A gradual return to the workplace

“Despite the vaccine and the phase of normalisation that we're in, we still need to proceed cautiously, as the number of cases and hospitalised COVID patients remains high,” states Ulrich Weidmann, head of the ETH Crisis Management team. This statement comes after the Federal Council’s granted itself the authority to extend the COVID certificate requirement and extended its recommendation to work from home.

Cautious return to the workplace

While ETH Zurich is keeping its home office guidelines in place, the Executive Board now recommends that all employees return to the workplace on a part-time basis. “After well over a year of working from home, it is becoming increasingly difficult for teams and research groups to work together,” explains Weidmann. He added that collaboration between different organisational units is also becoming more complicated and inefficient. “The Executive Board would like to see employees return to their workplaces for one to two days per week, depending on whether they are full- or part-time,” says Weidmann. The mandatory protective measures (regarding minimum space requirements, distancing, hygiene and masks) still apply. This is an additional step towards returning to new normal operations.

Employees should decide together with their line managers and colleagues how to implement the Board's recommendations. It remains possible for managers to require their staff to work on site for reasons of operational necessity. For work in offices, it is still required to maintain a distance of at least 1.5m between people and to provide a minimum of 10m² of space per person. Laboratories are allowed to operate with less space as long as medical or FFP-2 face masks are worn.

Back to as much classroom teaching as possible

The Autumn Semester is set to kick off on 20 September, and the intention is to hold as many classes in person as possible. “It is extremely important for our students to be able to study in person again after almost a year of extensive absence,” says Rector Sarah Springman. “So we're doing everything in our power to make this possible.” If the epidemiological situation deteriorates, however, or if the authorities impose more unexpected requirements, the Rectorate will revert to their “plan B” of holding courses at reduced occupancy. You can find up-to-date information and details on both possible teaching scenarios on the LET website. There is currently no legal framework in place that would allow ETH Zurich to require a COVID certificate for attending class. However, the university reserves the right to implement such a requirement depending on how the situation develops.

Ersti-Party for freshmen cancelled

Unfortunately, the Executive Board and Crisis Management team were forced to cancel the traditional welcome party for new students at the end of September. The event usually welcomes several thousand participants and involves intense celebration. “A party of this scale is at no small risk of becoming a superspreader event. Even when requiring certificates, events like these can cause a lot of infections,” explains Weidmann. “We don't want to jeopardise this autumn's in-person teaching in anyway, which is why we rejected VSETH’s event application.” He added that ETH would work together with the student association to hold a corona-compatible event for newcomers next spring.

Mask requirement in public indoor spaces

ETH is requiring people to wear masks, both in order to prevent infections – which can still occur between people who have been vaccinated – and to counteract uncertainties about the vaccination status. “Because the 2021 Autumn Semester is mostly taking place in person, we'll soon have a large number of people on campus again,” says Weidmann. “Therefore we're requiring masks to be worn in all publicly accessible indoors spaces at ETH Zurich.” This means that the mask requirement applies to student workplaces as well. In offices that aren't publicly accessible, there is no mask requirement as long as the distancing and minimum working space rules are observed.

Starting on 6 September, ETH employees must wear masks in meetings and one-on-one discussions as well as during face-to-face contact with customers. People may remove their masks if mutually agreed upon, if there is enough space in the rooms and if they have a COVID certificate. Meetings will continue to be held mostly online or as a mix of online and in-person formats. If all or most attendees are on site anyway and are meeting face-to-face, it is now once again possible for everyone to enjoy coffee and/or snacks while in meeting or break rooms.

Restrictions on catering have also been eased somewhat. It will once again be possible to have standing snack breaks or drinks receptions during events. This can take place in campus restaurants, meeting rooms or other separated facilities. COVID certificates are required to participate in events.

More events thanks to the COVID certificate

The new Downloadmaster planvertical_align_bottom stipulates that all events organised by ETH Zurich (except courses) are subject to a mandatory certificate requirement. This means that participants must be vaccinated, have recovered from COVID or test negative for COVID. This requirement allows us to once again fill rooms to maximum capacity. There will also be expanded food and drink options: restaurants and private rooms at ETH will once again be able to host standing snack breaks and drinks receptions. “The Federal Council's most important goal is to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed,” says Ulrich Weidmann. “We reckon that we can responsibly reduce the risk of infection by requiring certificates and masks.”

For this reason, the Services department is now offering a simplified procedure for approving smaller events. It is no longer necessary to submit a safety plan for simple events. “These kinds of smaller events are really important, especially for social interaction between students,” explains Weidmann. “Here the same principle applies as with working from home. After over a year with very limited opportunities for socialising, we have a lot of catching up to do, and we want to allow this to happen in a controlled fashion.”

Vaccine bus to visit ETH

“We're currently in a fragile situation regarding the number of new infections. The colder time of the year is also approaching, which means we'll spend less time outdoors, and during this time last year we saw the case numbers rise. That's why it's so important for as many members of the ETH community to get vaccinated as possible,” says Weidmann, echoing the appeal of the Executive Board. The Canton of Zurich's vaccine bus will visit ETH four times during the first two weeks of the semester so that people can conveniently receive the vaccine. The bus will be at Zentrum campus on the first two Wednesdays of the semester (22 and 29 September) and on Hönggerberg campus on the first two Thursdays (23 and 30 September). Vaccines will be administered on these days from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. We will provide more detailed information over the next few weeks.