The tightened Covid-19 restrictions that took effect last Saturday also apply to the university: no more than seventy-five people per lecture hall, everyone should wear face masks while walking around, and staff should work from home as much as possible.
The restrictions that outgoing prime minister Mark Rutte announced last Friday will last at least three weeks. In the meantime, the government is working on legislation to expand the requirement of a corona pass to institutes of higher education, among others.
For the time being, the corona pass is required at the university at the ACLO and the Food Court at Zernike. Last week, the university still considered this a company canteen, but that changed after the press conference. “It has now been very consciously decided to see it as a catering industry, because of the high contamination figures and Friday’s press conference.”
Face mask
Until then, everyone at the university will have to wear a face mask. They can’t take it off until they sit down in class, a cafeteria, or elsewhere.
Everyone who can do so should work from home. Exceptions apply to people who are location bound, for instance to do research. Everyone needs to discuss where they’ll be working with their supervisors.
Online lectures
The maximum group size of seventy-five people per lecture hall is also back, with exam halls being the only exception. This means that lectures attended by more than seventy-five students will be online for at least the next three weeks.
This maximum group size also applied to PhD ceremonies, speeches, the library, and other study locations. This will affect the capacity of the University library, among other places.
Extra vaccination location
The Groningen public health service (GGD) will set up a temporary vaccination location in the Willem-Alexander sports centre at Zernike from November 22-26. At this location, students and staff of the UG and Hanze University of Applied Sciences can get vaccinated without an appointment, as long as they can show ID.
UPDATE: This article has been edited after publication. The measures at Food Court were added later after the University of Groningen changed its policy.