Queen’s Students, Staff, and Faculty,

The Ontario government has announced a province-wide shutdown that will go into effect on Saturday, April 3 at 12:01 am and last for four weeks. During this period, Premier Ford is requiring all Ontarians to restrict indoor gatherings to their immediate household and outdoor social gatherings are limited to a five-person maximum. Travel outside your region should be restricted to essential purposes.

Queen’s has been operating with a heightened level of restrictions for some time, so many of the required changes to on-campus operations are already in place.

The following facility and on-campus restrictions will be in place from April 3 to align with provincial regulations:

• Under the provincial regulations, a limited number of classes that require in-person teaching are permitted, such as:
   
  • Clinical training that supports health related programs (e.g., Medicine, Nursing, Rehabilitation Sciences, etc.). The total number of students in the instructional space cannot exceed 50, with appropriate safety measures in place.
     
  • For non-health related programs where the program cannot be modified for virtual delivery, the total number of students in the instructional space cannot exceed 10. 

Students with on-campus academic activities will receive further updates from their program or faculty office as needed next week.

• Remote exams will continue as scheduled.
   
• All on-campus study spaces are closed. The library is open for curbside pickup only.
   
• On-campus access for employees will be limited. Only employees with essential on-campus positions or those who must be on campus to do their work should be on campus. All other faculty, staff, senior administration, and student leadership will work remotely except for required ad hoc access (for example, to record a lecture, print documents, or retrieve files) or those with accommodation requirements.
   
• For previously approved on-site research activity, if researchers can work remotely they should do so, only coming on campus as necessary. New requests for on-site activity require review and approval through the relevant Faculty Associate Dean of Research who will consult with the central Research Response Team as appropriate. The Research Response Team will continue to review all requests for field and in-person human participant research activity; please submit requests via Associate Deans of Research. Additional details will be available on the Vice-Principal (Research) website.
   
• The Athletic and Recreation Centre (ARC) remains closed for in-person access.
   
• Dining halls are limited to take-out only.
   
• Additional information will be provided to students in residence.

Thank you to the Queen’s community for your continued flexibility as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic,

Mark F. Green
Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic)