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Impact of new coronavirus measures November 2021

15 November 2021

During the press conference on Friday 12 November, the cabinet announced further stricter coronavirus measures. These measures have a significant impact on our university and society at large. We would have liked it to be different, coronavirus contaminations in universities have been relatively low and there have been no (cluster) outbreaks of the virus. However, we have to ask you to be flexible once more. In the meantime, we urge you to keep on doing everything you can to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. By doing so, we can hopefully prevent further restrictions on campus education and life in general.

Work from home advisory

The advice regarding working from home has been further tightened with immediate effect. Everyone will work from home unless there is no other option and only colleagues who have site-specific and/or research or teaching duties can work on site at UvA locations. Please ensure that you discuss your presence onsite with your manager and try to avoid the rush hour wherever possible by travelling outside busy times.

We ask staff to be reluctant in planning meetings that require a physical presence on campus. 

Maximum group size

There is a maximum group size of 75 people per room. This limit does not apply to exams.

This will lead to logistical problems. For example, in cases where you have a lecture scheduled after a tutorial and travel time cannot be taken into account (whereby lectures must be attended on campus).

In order to minimise these problems, we will be organising additional streaming facilities for hybrid lectures (a maximum of 75 people in the room with the rest attending online) and are working to optimise the timetables if necessary.

The capacity of the University Library is also limited by these measures, as is that of other study areas.

Consequences for planned events and meetings

The new measures also apply to events and meetings planned until 4 December. You can read below what other measures apply:

  • Only educational and research-related activities and events are permitted (e.g. inaugural lectures, doctorate conferrals, graduation ceremonies, information activities and lectures).
  • Social activities such as farewell receptions and drinks with colleagues are not permitted.
  • For receptions directly linked to and immediately following an educational or research-related activity (e.g. after an inaugural lecture or doctorate conferral), the measures for the hospitality industry apply. This means that QR codes must be checked at the entrance and participants must be seated.

Canteen closing times

The closing time of canteens at the university as well as at the sports facilities (USC) and CREA will be changed to 8:00 p.m. This means that meetings can also not be held there after 8 p.m.

Face mask requirements

Everyone in all UvA buildings is required to wear a face mask when moving through the buildings. Face masks may be removed when seated.

Continued regular self-testing

We urge all staff and students to self-test at least twice a week as this allows us to detect infections at an early stage and stops the unwitting spread of the virus. Free self-tests are available via www.zelftestonderwijs.nl.

Basic Rules 

Finally, the basic rules will remain in place as described in the corona update of 3 November and on this website.

More information coming this week

Further information will follow this week on this page. Be sure to keep an eye on Canvas as your specific study programme will update information there as soon as possible.

Questions?