4 November 2021
The rise in infections makes compliance with ground rules and measures all the more important. Yesterday, the government hinted that it might decide on 12 November to introduce stricter measures. We are keen to help avoid the need for these. Hence we are asking you to stay at home if you have any symptoms and to get tested at the Municipal Health Service (GGD), to get vaccinated if possible, to self-test at least twice a week and to keep a distance of 1.5 metres from other people wherever possible.
Here is a list of all the ground rules.
The wearing of face masks inside the buildings is to be made compulsory again from Saturday, 6 November onwards. Once you are seated in the relevant room, the face mask can be removed. So please do not forget to bring your face mask when you come to the campus. If you do happen to forget to bring one, face masks will be available in various locations on-campus. If you would prefer to keep your face mask on whilst seated, you are of course free to do so.
The advice for working at home has also been updated: work at home for at least half of the working week, if possible. This advice does not apply to staff who are required to be on-campus due to the nature of their work, or to staff who have made agreements with their manager on working on-campus.
If you are in any doubt as to whether or not certain work can be done from home or a certain proportion of your working hours can be spent at home, please discuss the matter with your manager.
The new measures will not affect scheduled meetings, though the requirement to wear a face mask will also apply at these when moving around. However, it is important that organisers do their utmost to enable participants to stick to the ground rules as much as possible. Book a bigger room, for example, to ensure everyone can keep their distance if they wish to do so.
In light of the latest corona measures, planned events can still take place. We do however ask everyone to consider carefully whether an event suits the current advices and measures regarding the corona-virus, and be reluctant in organizing events that require large groups to meet face-to-face.
The government will be making the QR-code compulsory at museums and sports centres from 6 November 2021. What this means is that the Allard Pierson and the USC will be required to check visitors’ QR-codes from that date onwards. The QR-code will also be needed for CREA, as external guests are also welcome there. A Covid-19 certificate check will not be necessary at catering facilities that only serve UvA staff and students.
The Cabinet announced on Tuesday that it is working on a change in the law that will allow employers to require a Covid-19 certificate in certain sectors. The idea of introducing the QR-check in higher education has also been discussed recently. Geert ten Dam, Chairman of the Executive Board: ‘We perfectly understand that there are staff and students who would be all for introducing a Covid-19 certificate and would regard it as good, safe and even necessary to require a Covid-19 certificate at the entrance to all UvA’s buildings. But all things considered, we are not in favour of doing so. There are both principled and practical objections and introducing such a requirement at this juncture would not add enough value.'
‘Basically, accessibility to education is a right and we neither want to nor are allowed to exclude anyone. From a practical point of view, introducing a coronavirus check in education is virtually impossible. Unlike a museum or swimming pool with one entrance, the UvA has eighty buildings with a large number of entrances, high peak loads that soon cause queues to form and, on top of that, staff and students entering and exiting all day long. The cost of checking QR codes could soon hit EUR 75,000 a week. Furthermore, it might lead to calls for digital education in parallel, which would entail duplicate work for teachers, which is unfeasible in view of current workload.
‘These major disadvantages must be weighed up against the added value of introducing checks, which is currently minimal—the vaccination rate among staff and students is around 90 percent, as a recent survey at Wageningen University & Research and the VU University Amsterdam revealed. The operational management includes extra cleaning and checks on ventilation, and there is a good level of compliance with the ground rules within UvA’s buildings. We have not yet seen any outbreaks originating at the university in recent times.’
For more information about ventilation, please see the AZ list:
If you have any questions about ventilation or in the event of malfunctions or complaints, please contact the Service Desk FS, 020 525 1403 or servicedesk-fs@uva.nl. You can also report directly yourself via the report form.
For answers to any other questions, see the FAQs on the coronavirus page or contact coronavragen@uva.nl.