To:  HBS Community

 

From:  Angela Crispi and Nitin Nohria

 

Re:  Plans for remainder of semester

 

 

We are writing to let you know that we are extending the move to remote-only instruction and limits to on-campus activities for the remainder of the semester.  Students should expect all classes to be conducted via Zoom; other activities and events that were planned for on campus will need to move online.  Additionally, as you will see below, we are asking that you significantly limit your social interactions with others.  Faculty who have been coming to campus may continue to do so and can continue to teach in the hybrid classrooms without students present (assuming your class size accommodates all students being remote).  Staff who have been coming to campus should expect to continue doing so.

 

Our analysis since we reached out on Thursday has revealed a handful of trends that convince us of the need to pause:

 

What does this tell us?  In short, transmission is occurring among members of our community—largely among a subset of our MBA students, who represent approximately 70% of the total cases—rather than as a result of activities involving persons outside our community.  Additionally, we are seeing higher numbers (including occasionally in the double digits) of close contacts.  Infections seem to be occurring as a result of activities that are natural and benign in normal times:  group dinners and other social gatherings, group athletic activities, and travel without proper quarantine upon return among some number of our students.  But during a time when the pandemic is surging broadly, it means infections in our community are likely to continue to rise at an unacceptable rate.

 

Were we earlier in the year, we would hope to transition to remote for a few weeks and then return to some in-person activities once the infection rate drops.  But Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away.  The number of classes after this long weekend is small, and we know already that a number of students plan not to return to campus after the break.  For those who do, quarantine requirements mean many won't be able to engage in in-person activities for 6-8 days.  As a result, we'll have too few students in the classroom to sustain hybrid classes.

 

We realize the transition represents a perhaps counterintuitive move, because we have stressed from the beginning—and continue to feel confident—that our classrooms, dining halls, and other on-campus spaces are not the locus of infection in our community.  Indeed, as of today, we have no evidence of infection occurring as a result of contact or interaction in these locations.

 

The transition also acknowledges how closely we are connected to our local communities.  Infection rates across Massachusetts have risen steadily this fall, with the number of new daily COVID cases reaching those experienced at the height of the initial surge last spring.  Hospitalizations have reached a level such that yesterday Governor Baker announced plans to reopen a COVID field hospital in December.  Our campus is not a bubble, and we must be both cognizant that the risk of infection against this backdrop is generally higher, and extra vigilant that we do not contribute to transmission to our neighboring communities.

 

We are moving to this more restrictive phase, then, because we need everyone to be extra cautious moving forward.  We simply must bend the trajectory of this current spike and limit the number of new infections.

 

What can you do?  While the large majority of students are already doing this (and we are, truly, grateful for your efforts), we need everyone to identify their own small pod—no more than a half dozen individuals with whom you'll interact in person for the remainder of the semester.  To be crystal clear:  this does not mean a half dozen individuals at a time, but rather in total.  Hunker down, find ways to connect with other classmates virtually outside your pod, and significantly limit your in-person contact with others.  Dinners and other indoor gatherings—a time when masks are down, and physical distancing is unlikely to be maintained—should be avoided; please don't host or attend these events with anyone other than your existing families or roommates or your small pod during this time.

 

Additionally, if you travel and return to campus, or if you are identified as a close contact, you must quarantine.  Harvard has provided clear guidance for travel outside of Massachusetts:  you must test immediately upon return, and remain in quarantine until after a second negative test result is received after 6-8 days.  If you are identified as a close contact, you must quarantine and remain in quarantine until you are cleared by HUHS.

 

We need to dispel what appears to be the belief that a negative test means you are COVID-free.  You could be carrying a low enough viral load to test negative for one test.  Within hours of submitting the test, however, the viral load could multiply enough to allow transmission of the virus to others.  Or, you could be carrying the virus and receive an initial false negative test result (please note that while false negatives are possible, false positives are exceedingly rare).  This is why we stress that testing is not a panacea.  It is a screening mechanism to quickly isolate those who have been infected and to quarantine their close contacts, rather than an in-the-moment wellness check or a license to freely interact with those who may also have tested negative.

 

Additionally, we'd ask students especially to recognize that you are in an age demographic where many of you will have the virus but be asymptomatic.  We know this makes isolation and quarantine seem especially difficult:  you feel fine.  But these steps remain vital to limiting the spread of COVID on our campus.  You can be fully asymptomatic and have a high viral load, meaning you are infectious to others.

 

What will we do?  In addition to the move to remote learning, we are encouraging all MBA students to test 3 times next week.  Rapidly identifying and isolating new cases will be crucial, and so you'll be given additional kits as needed when you pick up your next kit.  Additionally, we will enable partners who have been identified as close contacts of infected students to be tested during their quarantine for this time period.  Finally, no in-person gatherings or events will be permitted on campus, nor should one-on-one or small group meetings in offices and conference rooms be held.

 

We will watch the data carefully for the next two weeks.  While hybrid classes will not resume before the end of the semester, we will determine—based on Harvard and state-wide case numbers—whether other on-campus activities can resume after Thanksgiving.  We're mindful that for many students HBS is your home, and as conditions warrant we'll turn the dimmer switch back up as quickly as it is safe to do so.

 

We have every expectation that we will start the spring semester as we did the fall semester, barring conditions at the state or national level that would preclude this happening.  Our learning these last few months has been significant, and we are eager to work with students, staff, and faculty to find ways to ensure the continued health, safety, and well-being of our community in the new year.

 

A final note.  We've said before that the HBS community is a microcosm of the rest of the world—a place where people live, work, and study, just like any city or town.  We want to stress that, at a broad level, we remain deeply proud that so many of you—the majority of you—have worked hard to embrace public health measures, including wearing face masks, maintaining physical distancing, frequent hand washing, limiting gathering sizes, and honoring isolation and quarantine requirements.  As a result, Harvard's positivity rate for the last 7 days remains 0.24%.  We have discovered, though, that even small numbers of people disregarding safety measures can have a disproportionate effect on transmission rates.  We now need to see what we can do to remedy this reality.

 

We wish with all our hearts that the move was not necessary, and we are sorry for the disappointment you will feel.  We feel it too.  The joy of being on campus and in the classrooms these last weeks has been palpable, for everyone in the community.  We are optimistic that this setback is temporary and look forward to the time when we can resume more in-person activities once again.