Newfoundland and Labrador continues to operate under Public Health COVID-19 Alert Levels, which outline services, businesses and functions allowed to operate at each alert level.

The province is currently scheduled to move to Alert Level 3 on Monday, June 8.

Work is ongoing at Memorial to implement a phased resumption of on-campus academic, research and administrative activities, in consideration of government’s five-level approach.

Guiding principles for the university were developed to lead decisions at this time. We initially want to ensure we support the ongoing work of academic and research functions while keeping public health and the safety of our faculty, staff and students at the forefront.

We are taking a risk-based approach to assessing any resumption of activity on-campus. Our next steps consider enabling faculty to return to their individual offices on a more regular basis. The choice to return to campus when invited would be at the discretion of the individual faculty member. We continue to encourage working from home where possible, in line with public health messages for all alert levels, and doing our part to keep the density in our buildings low. Logistics regarding cleaning, signage, security, access to shared spaces and other important elements are being finalized and we anticipate, next week, being able to share a timeline for when faculty can return to their offices. Next week, we will also provide information to your units to support further planning.

The ongoing direction for staff employees to work from home remains in place for now, unless approved for on-campus work.

We are cautious, but happy to anticipate resumption of some semblance of normalcy on our campuses. However, we remain focused on our ability to respond to evolving changes that may happen on short notice, and doing our collective part to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our province. We will depend on our guiding principles as we progress through the various levels toward a new normal and continue to follow public health guidelines including physical distancing, handwashing and working from home when possible.