To:  HBS Community

 

From:  Angela Crispi and Nitin Nohria

 

Re:  10/13 HBS coronavirus update

 

We are writing with our update on the coronavirus and the School's response to it.

 

Governor Baker noted in today’s press conference two interesting pieces of information.  First, Massachusetts currently—and admittedly by a hair—leads the nation in testing per capita, with 9.2 tests per 1,000 (Johns Hopkins provides a helpful state-by-state overview of cases, tests, and percent positive, with weekly trend indicators, here).  Second, the 7-day positivity rate for colleges and universities in Massachusetts is 0.1%.  Testing (and the contact tracing it enables) has been crucial to our reopening, and the positivity rate is a signal that our health and safety measures—and your efforts—are working.

 

As of today, then, HBS will be moving from Level 2/Caution (where we’ve been since the beginning of the semester) to Level 3/Expanded Activity: Core—the midpoint of our five levels.  While not a seismic shift, some key benefits of this move include:

> increased options for indoor activity, such as small-scale student events, and

> the ability to have meetings in offices and conference rooms, such as student meetings with faculty members or staff meeting with other staff.

 

The “Keep HBS Healthy” web site (especially “Latest Updates”) will be updated accordingly tomorrow; please take a look then to be sure you understand these changes and what they mean for you.

 

This is not a moment to be any less vigilant or diligent.  Two areas where we need your help:

(1) Wearing your mask when you are indoors—this applies to students in places like the Spangler Lounge, faculty members when you are outside of your office, and staff and all members of the community in locations like the tunnels and other shared spaces, even when you are alone.  Evidence increasingly points to the benefits of limiting aerosol transmission of the virus, and mask wearing and physical distancing are key.

(2) Completing your daily Crimson Clear attestation before using your ID card to swipe into any Harvard building.

 

Additionally, MBA RC students and faculty began the move into hybrid classrooms today, and Zoom Pods—on-campus spaces where small groups of students can participate together in hybrid classes remotely—opened, too.  This is a significant additional step in our reopening plan, but it (and, presumably, the miserable weather outdoors) highlighted another piece of guidance we need to emphasize for students in particular:

 

The consumption of food is permitted only in the Spangler Dining Room, Williams Room, Spangler Grille, and Spangler Lounge; Chao 220/240 Dining Rooms and Chao 1st and 2nd floor lounge areas; or outdoors.

 

Eating—a moment when masks are down and people tend to move closer together around a table—is considered, for our campus, one of the highest-risk activities.  We know it’s a moment to relax and the natural instinct is to socialize.  But Aldrich alcoves, Zoom pods, and any other location not noted above… you need to consider all of these off-limits for eating.

 

In the wonderful movie “The Incredibles,” the penultimate scene shows the Parr family at son Dash’s track meet, variously yelling at him to run faster or slower—his superpower is speed—so that he won’t win or lose by too much.  That’s how we sometimes feel sending these updates:  optimism and caution, praising and pleading.  We are holding our breath, each and every day, that by working together we all—faculty, staff, students—can realize the best possible HBS experience.

 

*****

 

 

Worldwide:  37.98 million cases / more than 1.08 million deaths.

Massachusetts:  13,744 molecular tests / 632 confirmed cases / 137,565 total confirmed cases / 12 deaths / 9,413 total confirmed deaths.

See:  The Global coronavirus map and Mass.gov daily dashboard

Please remember, these numbers represent likely a very small fraction of actual cases, as they reflect only the portion of the population that has been tested.

 

All members of the HBS community are welcome to direct questions and suggestions to coronavirus@hbs.edu.