This has been an unprecedented week for our university and our communities.

I hope you are each taking care of yourselves, practising social distancing and hand washing, and doing your part to slow the spread of COVID-19.

I want to extend my sincere thanks to the dozens and dozens of people who are working across all our campuses as part of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) structure as well as those in critical functions to keep the university operating during this time.

I know this is a stressful time and your dedication to our community is evident. Memorial isn’t closed, but it certainly isn’t operations as normal.

We are focused on critical services to meet immediate needs.

This week, faculty and support staff have been busy getting ready for the transition to remote learning on Monday, March 23. We are still on track for that to happen.

I’m sure there will be some bumps in the road. Please have patience as the transition to remote learning continues.

A tremendous amount of work has gone into the process to date and I want to thank all of those involved, including faculty and instructors who have been communicating directly with their students to help alleviate the anxiety.

By end of day today, the number of students who remain in residences in St. John’s and Corner Brook will be greatly reduced.

It was important for all students who could move out to do so, as it allows our residence staff capacity to take care of those students who need to remain in residence.

I thank students and their families for their understanding and patience at this time.

We also postponed spring registration that was scheduled to start on Monday. Updates about spring semester and May convocation ceremonies will be provided next week.

As always, information is constantly being updated on our COVID-19 website.

Please ensure you follow guidelines and advice from public health authorities. The latest information from the provincial government is available here.