One month after disclosure of the recovery plan phase of face-to-face activities on campuses, Unicamp defined a schedule for the beginning of the return of employees, teachers and students. In addition to dates for the progressive return, the schedule also establishes the execution of measures necessary for the safe planning of the units, such as the application of coronavirus detection tests to everyone, video classes on the safe return and the download and registration on the application monitoring the health of all those who return. In the case of students, the priority will be for graduating students who need to develop activities in which presence on campuses is essential, with encouragement for remote activities being maintained.
When preparing the plan, one of the conditions established by Unicamp for the gradual return to begin was that the regions where the University maintains its campuses remained for at least four weeks in the yellow phase of the São Paulo Plan. Currently, all regions of the State of São Paulo are in the yellow phase, with a downward trend. On September 11th, the moving average of new cases in the State registered a drop of 37% in relation to the moving average of the last 14 days and the variation in the moving average of deaths showed a reduction of 19,6% in relation to the 14 previous days. The Metropolitan Region of Campinas also shows a drop in rates. Data from September 11th shows a 40% reduction in the moving average of new cases compared to the previous 14 days. The moving average of deaths decreased by 27,6% in the same period.
Based on these positive data, the initial return of up to 20% of servers is scheduled for October 19th, which will constitute the first period of the gradual return. The advance in the return must respect the two-week interval between each period and, in each of them, the maximum percentage of employees who will be able to return to face-to-face activities will increase by 20%. The return of up to 25% of undergraduate and postgraduate students will only begin in the third period, when up to 25% of children served by CECI/DeDIC will also be able to return.
The dates established by the plan can be revised at any time, depending on the evolution of the pandemic in the regions where Unicamp maintains its campuses. Thus, the calendar is defined as follows:
19/10 - Period 1: up to 20% of servers;
02/11 - Period 2: up to 40% of servers;
16/11 - Period 3: up to 60% of employees, up to 25% of undergraduate, postgraduate and extension students and up to 25% of children served by CECI/DeDIC;
30/11 - Period 4: up to 80% of employees, up to 50% of undergraduate, postgraduate and extension students and up to 50% of children served by CECI/DeDIC;
14/12 - Period 5: up to 100% of employees, up to 75% of undergraduate, postgraduate and extension students and up to 75% of children served by CECI/DeDIC;
23/12 to 03/01/2021 - End of year break
04/01/2021 - Period 6 - up to 100% of employees, up to 100% of undergraduate, postgraduate and extension students and up to 100% of children served by CECI/DeDIC;
18/01/2021 - Entry into Phase 3 of the plan for the gradual resumption of activities.
The percentages of employees and students indicated by the plan are maximum reference values that the units will have to organize their own work dynamics in a safe way. However, each body will have the autonomy to determine how many people will return according to the specificities of each space and the type of work carried out.
"Suppose a unit has a sector in which, predominantly, people are from groups more vulnerable to Covid. Or a unit carries out activities that do not allow for adequate social distancing. There will then be a need to return a much smaller percentage than this planned, or keep people working from home. This is open, these possibilities are open to management", emphasizes José Antonio Gontijo, Chief of Staff at the Unicamp Rectory.
Marcelo Knobel, Rector of Unicamp, emphasizes the importance of collaboration between all units when drawing up their plans for the beginning of the return. "Our challenge is to find the balance between the proper functioning, mainly of research activities and students who need to complete some practical classes to graduate. This is everyone's priority. Each unit will find a mechanism to pursue its priorities to maintain the minimum of necessary activities on campus and that we can slowly, gradually adapt to this situation", he explains.
Before the schedule is put into practice, in September the management of units and bodies will have the period from September 17th to 25th to internally define and inform the order of return of their employees. Between September 29th and October 6th, the same planning will be carried out with undergraduate, postgraduate, extension and also Student Housing students. This planning is necessary to ensure the physical preparation of University spaces and also the adaptation of services such as services in libraries, university restaurants and chartered buses, which cannot yet operate at maximum capacity or full-time for the safety of these employees. own locations and the public served.
"We have to have this information through these forms, as well as a specific form for housing students. This is so that, by the ninth of October, we can prepare the entire infrastructure of the agencies and units with regard to purchases, distribution of inputs, flow of people and cars on campuses, necessary signage", explains José Antonio Gontijo, Chief of Staff of the Unicamp Rectory.
From the 1st to the 16th of October, RT-PCR tests will be carried out to detect the coronavirus on all employees who return on the 19th. The tests will be carried out by the Community Health Center (Cecom). Servers must also download and register on the application that will be used to control Covid-19 symptoms and also watch video classes on safe return. All employees, teachers and students will go through this process (testing, attending video classes and registering on the application) in the period before returning in person.
Although the plan points to the possibility of 100% return of staff and students at the beginning of 2021, Gontijo comments that, to preserve the health of all staff and students, the full return will only occur when there is a vaccine or other effective scientific measure. to control the pandemic. Until then, precautions such as the use of masks, hygiene and social distancing will be essential. "It will always be partial, because we have those from vulnerable groups, we have elderly people, we have the physical impossibility of putting everyone in the same room so that hygiene and distancing can be taken care of, which must be maintained", he analyzes.
For the Rector, the gradual resumption of activities will require organization and collaboration from all members of the university community. "If the vaccine is ready in January, with great luck in February, it will still take almost a year for it to be applied to everyone, we have more than 200 million inhabitants in the country, it is not a simple thing to do. We we cannot bet on the vaccine as the only hope for a return", points out Knobel.
The complete plan for the gradual resumption of in-person activities at Unicamp and other information materials are available on the website guidelines for safe living at the Unicamp Portal.