News & Events

The McDonald Institute is working closely with its member institutions and their local public health authorities to manage operations and planned activities in light of COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreaks around the world.

When face-to-face meetings are not possible, the Institute’s strategy is to provide remote-participation and/or remote delivery of meetings, or possibly deferring some meetings when required. We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving quickly and that plans may be altered unexpectedly. We will monitor each of our planned events and will confirm specific arrangements as far in advance as possible to provide adequate notification (e.g., in-person, remote-access, deferred dates). We will also gladly work with affiliated McDonald Institute members to facilitate their own contingency preparations around COVID-19 precautions/responses.

Our advice to all researchers, students and staff members in the Canadian astroparticle physics community is to regularly monitor member-institution protocols for hygiene, health-monitoring, illness reporting, travel restrictions, remote-work requirements and closures. Additional guidelines are available from federal, provincial and regional government authorities. These guidelines may change on short notice, so please review updates on a regular basis:

MEMBER-INSTITUTION COVID-19 PROTOCOLS

• University COVID-19 Information & Instruction Pages (e.g., U de M, McGill, Carleton, Queen’s University, Toronto, Laurentian, U of A, UBC)
• All posted and inbound advisories from SNOLAB, TRIUMF and other international experimental facilities.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL MODIFICATIONS & RESTRICTIONS

• Government of Canada Travel Health Notices page
• International Travel Advisories page (Canadian Government)
• Government of Canada COVID-19 Outbreak Update page

PUBLIC HEALTH & COVID-19 MONITORING

• Relevant provincial COVID-19 advisory pages (e.g., Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia)

The first priority of the McDonald Institute is promoting the safety and sustainability of the people who generate long-term research impacts. We are also aware that our discipline is a high-profile and internationally mobile actor in the nation’s scientific community. Our positive engagement with this public health issue will allow us to lead by example.