Message from the Dean
To: WCM Community
Subject: May 13 Dean’s COVID-19 Update
Tomorrow, on Thursday May 14, please join me for a Town Hall meeting by Zoom at 4:00 pm. I will discuss our institution’s response to COVID-19 and our plans for resuming and renewing activities across our mission. Members of the WCM community (with a WCM CWID) can register for the Town Hall meeting and submit questions for me here.
I’m also happy to share Weill Cornell Medicine’s Institutional Principles for “New Normal” Operations. The following principles will guide how WCM re-establishes on-site operations over the coming months consistent with public health guidance. Each WCM mission and department are developing goals, objectives, and implementation protocols that are aligned with these principles, recognizing that different priorities and needs will impact the specific operations of each unit.
These principles will be evaluated on an ongoing basis as the public health situation evolves. Additional guidance on testing and maintaining a safe work environment is forthcoming.
1. Continue to advance our mission as an academic medical institution:
- Clinical Care Responsibilities to our patients and to our clinical partners, including NewYork-Presbyterian, should be prioritized, with more urgent patient care needs ramping up first. Elective surgeries and procedures must continue to be suspended until permitted to resume by the Governor’s plan for New York City.
- Education / Curriculum Progression for medical students, MD-PhD students, and graduate students should be prioritized. Restructuring and re-ordering certain elements of the curriculum should be considered, as well as alternative learning modalities. At the same time, in-person coursework (didactic, lab work and clinical experiences) must continue to be suspended until permitted to resume by the Governor’s statewide plan.
- Research Activities remain essential and should continue to advance, with a resumption of on-site activities starting with clinical trials, and then basic and translational science, with a priority on resumption of on-site activities that require the physical presence of research faculty and laboratory personnel.
- Financial Impact of operational decisions should be considered, while also prioritizing the safety of the WCM community, our patients and our partners.
2. Proceed in a safe and responsible manner:
- Testing (both diagnostic and serologic) will ultimately be available to all symptomatic and non-symptomatic WCM faculty, staff, and students who want it. As testing capacity ramps up, we will prioritize testing for faculty and staff who need to be on site to do their work – specifically starting with health care workers, and then research and laboratory personnel. At this time, testing will not be blanketly required for all our faculty, staff, and students. If testing is required for a specific faculty, staff, or student population, that information will be included in a future update.
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided to all WCM faculty, staff, and students, as appropriate. Surgical masks must be worn in all public/shared spaces, and we strongly urge everyone to wear a mask in public and on their way to/from work. Specialized PPE should be prioritized to our health care workers and students in the clinical setting.
- Social distancing is a proven and important preventative measure in battling the continued spread of COVID-19. Facilities and modern offices throughout New York City have actively worked to densify space in recent years, which presents operational challenges for social distancing with full on-site staff capacity. We are committed to identifying new solutions.
- Work locations and student residences are diverse spaces and need to be safe, clean, and conducive to social distancing for all Weill Cornell faculty, staff, and students.
- We will rely on scientifically substantiated guidance and best practices, as published by the local and state health departments, the CDC, and medical societies, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- We are all in this together, and we are counting on our community’s common sense, solidarity, and cooperation as we return to “new normal” operations.
3. Develop innovative internal solutions to meet uncontrollable external forces
- Institutional, Federal, State and Accreditation Guidelines should be adhered to in developing and implementing operational plans. Phasing of re-openings must comport with the Governor’s statewide and regional plans.
- New York City infrastructure, including the availability and safety of public transportation, as well as the cost and availability of parking, should be considered. The ability to ramp up operations will be considerably affected by the City’s capacity to provide safe and timely mass transit options.
- Staff availability may be impacted when employees are unable to come to work, for reasons including quarantine, illness, need for an accommodation, or childcare issues (particularly while schools and other childcare programs are closed). Many employees have job duties that can be productively performed remotely, and many may prefer remote work arrangements until assurances around safety are further evolved.
- Departmental Responsibilities / Productivity should continue to be managed by departmental and unit leadership, with systems in place for monitoring ongoing productivity and employee engagement.
- Flexibility in terms of staffing and “return to work” timelines will be required as we return to the new normal.
Sincerely,
Augustine M.K. Choi, M.D.
Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean
Weill Cornell Medicine
Provost for Medical Affairs
Cornell University