Research Continuity Planning for COVID-19

May 5, 2020

On April 23, 2020, Governor Pritzker issued an extension of our state’s ‘stay at home’ order through May 30th, in line with public health recommendations from federal authorities, to continue the progress that we have witnessed in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. While ensuring the health and safety of our community is paramount, the impact of the widespread closures on our research enterprise has been significant. The centrality of research to the University of Chicago cannot be overstated and planning a safe return to research activities is a high priority.

To address this, the Office of the Provost has convened a faculty committee to provide guidance on principles for a phased reintroduction of on-campus research. The committee is working on the assumption that research resumption will occur in stages based on the overall status of the pandemic in Chicago and Illinois, guidance from State and City Public Health authorities, and prevailing conditions at the University. Please note that while the Governor’s order extends through May 30th, we encourage all researchers and other work in education and administration to continue remote activities until further notice whenever possible.

The guidance of the faculty committee will inform implementation planning by deans and detailed preparations by individual research groups, which we expect to begin by mid-May. Our work will proceed in close collaboration with the Medical Center to establish state-of-the-art safety protocols and logistical planning for safe resumption of research. Foremost is the need to ensure that we do whatever we can to reduce health risks to faculty, other academic appointees, students, and staff. This will include preparing best practices for personal protective equipment, coronavirus testing as appropriate, and detailed plans for social distancing within each research area, as well as plans for regular cleaning in accordance with public health guidelines.

The deans and other academic leaders will be in further communication with labs about these topics in the days and weeks ahead. I want to thank the University of Chicago research community for meeting these unprecedented challenges with generosity of spirit, and for continuing to pursue new knowledge and innovations in the face of this pandemic.

Ka Yee C. Lee, Provost

April 8, 2020

This document provides COVID-19 research guidelines for on-campus research that directly targets this current pandemic. Research activities should have an impact in the short term (within 6 months) unless vaccine-related research (within 1 year). For purposes of this guideline, ‘impact’ means that an undertaking should achieve a go/no-go endpoint of usefulness suitable for transfer from the research stage to a development partner (e.g., an industry, governmental, or clinical partner) within the indicated timeline.

• Proposals to improve testing, treatment, or clinical characterization of COVID-19 must provide compelling arguments that the research is directly relevant to the current COVID-19 pandemic and will achieve an impact endpoint within six months of start date.
• Proposals for COVID-19 vaccination should achieve an impact endpoint within one year of start date.
• Studies of specific potential drug targets against COVID-19 will also be considered but must include strong rationale (e.g. rapid testing a drug/compound in a HTRL core facility) – most would be deemed too slow and unlikely to yield an impact endpoint within 6 months of start date
• Priority will be given to proposals to demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining clinical samples, or residual material, from the Department of Pathology’s Clinical Laboratories.
• Priority will be given to proposals that are written in response to any COVID-19-related Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) from a federal agency, carried out in response to a request from a federal agency to repurpose toward COVID-19, or are validated by major third parties such as governmental or non-governmental organizations or companies active in infectious disease development that could serve as development partners should impact be achieved.

Highest priority will be given to those projects deemed most likely to enhance treatment of COVID-19 patients, or to terminate the spread of infection.

Application of guidelines:
Each division should use these guidelines to assess current on -campus COVID-19 related research activities and new proposals.

New proposals must specify:

• All personnel involved (including graduate students)
• Number of in-person contact hours
• Whether any live virus propagation/amplification requiring the BSL3 facility at Howard Taylor Ricketts Laboratory is being proposed
• If research activities involve samples or specimens that may contain SARS-CoV-2 and need to involve the Office of Research Safety.
• If any research cores or animal work is needed.
• All work locations
• A plan for social distancing and staggered work schedules, when multiple personnel are involved.

March 30, 2020

In the last weeks and days, we have taken unprecedented steps to keep people safe from COVID-19 and to stop the transmission of this virus. We appreciate the tremendous support across campus and the flexibility you have shown as we work together to keep our community safe. Despite such efforts across the state, new COVID-19 cases are continuing to increase rapidly in Illinois with widespread community transmission, and we must do more to “flatten the curve.”

Therefore, beginning on Tuesday, March 31, at 5 p.m., all academic and administrative campus buildings will move from general key card access to secure key card access, whereby only those individuals deemed essential personnel who must be on campus will be able to access the facility. Each unit has previously compiled a list of essential personnel whose key cards (University IDs) will now be the only cards that can unlock doors. Since our goal is to significantly reduce the number of people on campus, we have asked the deans and officers to review the list of essential personnel for their units and limit access to the fewest possible people.

We recognize that some instructors have particular situations that make teaching remotely from home very difficult. We will consider designating instructors as essential personnel at the request of deans, on a very limited case-by-case basis and for teaching purposes only. In these cases, we will identify specific classrooms for teaching and recording course sessions, and those classrooms will be cleaned after each use.

Much like the City of Chicago has been forced to close public parks and playgrounds, we are forced to ensure that only those who truly must be on campus can access our facilities. Protecting the health of these individuals is paramount and having extra people in our buildings increases the chance of illness for those who must come to campus, including our front-line healthcare workers.

The University is an intellectual home and community for all of us, and I recognize that this additional measure of locking our doors, albeit temporarily, will be difficult for many of us. While for now we cannot gather together on campus, we remain united as a community as we work together in our fight against the coronavirus pandemic. This is an extraordinary step needed to protect the University and our broader community. Thank you for your partnership and commitment in these difficult times.

Ka Yee Lee, Provost