NRAO/GBO update - Monday Sep 7th
Our operations are ongoing. The North American NRAO/GBO instruments and IT systems are online, performing well. In Chile, the JAO is preparing for a restart of the Santiago offices. This week it has been six months since the start of our response to COVID.
During the past week, we had a COVID contamination of a NRAO/GBO department, where a worker was exposed to the disease at a large family event, and came into work for a few days (asymptomatically) until the problem was fully understood. Contacts were traced, and everyone potentially infected has been quarantined. NRAO/GBO staff members have subsequently tested positive for COVID. The contaminated work area has been isolated, and will be cleaned. The full extent of the outbreak (between staff, amongst family members, and to others members of the community) will not be known until later this week. I am confident that we’ve done everything we could have to prevent further spread of the disease beyond the workplace event, and everyone is ok so far – the good news.
Infection rates around our sites are generally flat or declining, but new waves are possible in the college towns (CV, Socorro) so the threat level remains significant. Large gatherings (particularly those including people who have traveled), with minimal PPE and precautions, remain a real problem. People can make decisions about their own exposure and risk, but as this incident has shown, you’re actually making decisions for potentially dozens of people around you, including people that may have far more significant risk than you. Testing is generally available (though often too slow to make quick decisions), and treatments have improved, but over 800 people are still dying from COVID every day. The projections for total US deaths by the end of the year range from 300-600 thousand people – after nine months of the disease. This equivalent to about 10-15 years of annual deaths from flu in the US.
Please continue to practice physical distancing, keep travel/large events to a minimum (better -> zero), wear masks at all times in public, wash your hands and/or sanitize them regularly if you’re out, etc. This is not the beginning or end of the COVID war, this is the middle where battles are won and lost, and we lost one this week; we learn what we can, and keep going. Please stay careful in your personal lives, and think about what role you might have unknowingly in transmitting the disease. It is critical you follow our COVID procedures at work. We remain in Phase 1 of our return to full operations for the time being.
I’d like to end commenting on another issue that arose late last week. A directive was sent to federal departments and agencies requesting they cease funding certain types of race and diversity training. We (AUI/NRAO/GBO) have received no instructions from the National Science Foundation on this issue so far. We will, of course, respond fully to any direction from the NSF regarding the use of federal funds, but AUI (as a company) is entitled to define its own culture and priorities, and exploring issues like race and equity, and improving diversity and broadening participation of our workforce and community, are incredibly important to us. AUI Pres. Adam Cohen and I have agreed that if do we receive restrictions on the use federal funding for race and diversity training, we will nonetheless continue all of our relevant programs and discussions using corporate resources. It is time for real change in this country, and continuing this dialog is critical.
I hope you have a good Labor Day, and stay safe. If you need information or support, please contact your supervisor, Dept Head, ESS or me. The website containing all our COVID support information is: https://info.nrao.edu/covid-19.
Tony Beasley
