Governor Baker extends closure order to May 18
April 28, 2020
Dear Faculty, Staff and Students,
I wanted to provide you with a brief update on state regulations guiding our campus operations. Today Governor Baker extended his order closing all non-essential businesses until May 18. This applies to all non-essential activities at Brandeis including our research labs, unless the PI has received a waiver from me for COVID-19 related research. I request that if you do not have formal permission to be on campus (and are not on the list of names of essential personnel that public safety has) that you refrain from entering any campus building. I understand that some of you may need to come in very briefly to pick up documents or materials from offices or labs, but please recognize that this will require custodial staff to do extra deep cleaning in any place you enter. The governor also extended the stay-at-home guidance until May 18.
The Governor announced today the creation of a Reopening Advisory Board that will advise him on strategies to reopen the economy in phases based on health and safety metrics. According to the press release, “It (the Advisory Board) will meet with key stakeholders and solicit input from a variety of constituencies over the next three weeks to develop a report by May 18th that will include DPH (Department of Public Health) approved workplace safety standards, industry frameworks and customer protocols and guidelines, including enforcement mechanisms and coordination with municipal leaders.”
Given this timeline I do not expect that we will be able to begin any partial re-opening of on-campus activities, including research, before the end of May at the earliest.
Thank you for your continuing forbearance and fortitude,
Lisa
Lisa M. Lynch, Provost