NRAO/GBO update - Wed Nov 4th
The North American NRAO/GBO instruments and support systems are online and performing nominally. In Chile, ALMA is making steady progress on the road to restart.
We continue to deal with a very small number of confirmed COVID-19 cases from week to week, none arising from lateral spread in the workplace. Our policies/processes seem to be working, and we continue to improve them – comments welcome. We’ve had more than two dozen employee quarantines at different locations started in the past week or two, but no confirmed infections so far amongst the individuals involved (my understanding this morning). Some might argue we’re being too cautious with quarantining, I don’t agree. The regional and national numbers of infections continue to grow for now, and the risks in our personal lives (family exposure, gatherings of friends, out in public) remain high. Your responsibility is to protect yourselves and your families/coworkers - physical distancing, the use of masks at all times in public, and enhanced personal hygiene (hand washing) remain important. Please get your flu shots. Testing seems to be getting easier, good to think about how you would access/use it personally, if needed.
Please discuss your upcoming vacation plans with your supervisor. Taking time to refresh/renew is important for all of us, even if travel is difficult. The Performance Evaluation process is continuing. If you haven’t completed your annual cybersecurity training (due last Friday) this might be the last email you read for a while, if you know what I mean… please get it done, thanks.
Past, present and future:
The missions of AUI, NRAO and GBO are as relevant today as they were when the original Observatory was founded half a century ago, perhaps more so. We are supported by an agency that enjoys bipartisan support and has continued to grow through many difficult political periods. We (NRAO/GBO) have fared well in very different administrations over the past several years; yes, there have been hard years and difficult decisions, but we’re still here, and stronger than ever. We celebrate our (many) successes, and continue to work on our (many) flaws … we are a work in progress. We have great initiatives, which are being strongly supported by the community and the NSF. The Observatories have been safe, and generally lightly touched by the pandemic, although some of our staff have sadly lost loved ones, and we’re not past this problem yet. But we do have a lot to be grateful for.
The election period has been tough to live through, and it seems like we’ve got a few more days of it ahead. It can be hard to focus on the daily tasks when such key issues are undecided – a perfectly normal reaction. But somebody has got to catch all these radio signals, maintain antennas, write lines of code, transfer data, move money & people, build devices, teach, complete spreadsheets, publish, learn, grow, help people.. that’s our job. I’m hearing a lot of discussion about the future, whether the glass is half full or half empty etc. … the bottom line is: no matter what happens, our future is bright. Let’s continue moving forward together, stay on task, keep the workplace debate to a minimum, and be gentle with everyone. The sky keep rolling past, and we have work to do.
If you need COVID information or support, please contact your supervisor, Dept Head, ESS or me. The website containing all our info is: https://info.nrao.edu/covid-19. As always, many thanks to our Safety and Computing infrastructure teams for keeping us safe and functional. Take care of yourselves, and stay safe.
Tony Beasley
