Some research shut down at UW due to COVID-19

“To be sure, scopes of work are being adjusted,” Synakowski said during the meeting. “I’m cautiously optimistic that, while there will be impacts in terms of timeline-stretching, that research isn’t grinding to a halt, but that is definitely a concern.”

The university has more than 100 lab and field-based research activities conducted by faculty, staff and students.

Around the same time as the board meeting, Synakowski told the Boomerang that some lab researchers would likely focus more on out-of-lab work in the coming weeks.

“There is always work outside of the laboratory that a researcher needs to do to support their work in the lab such as writing and data analysis so we anticipate that all researchers encompassing faculty, staff and students will be able to work remotely to some extent,” he said. “Work scope adjustments may include doing such out-of-lab work now rather than later.”

At that time, the university told researchers to identify experiments that could be delayed and to plan for the possibility that the officials might restrict access to the on-campus labs. They were also told to designate emergency personnel who could still perform critical maintenance in the event of limited access to campus.

On March 31, the university’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources sent out a letter noting that effective immediately, all of the school’s research activities would be temporarily suspended. This included on and off-campus activities, including the Research and Extension Centers and off-campus research sites.

The letter was shared by ANR associate dean Warrie Means in an email to college faculty and staff on April 1.

The ANR suspension impacted both field and laboratory research and was a response to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

“This decision was made after substantial consideration of many foreseeable impacts, as well as recognition that there are and will continue to be additional unforeseen impacts,” the letter said. “The guidance and requirements that have been implemented to keep our employees, our students and our communities safe preclude conducting research in a ‘business as usual’ manner.”

It was noted that exceptions could be made for certain research projects, as some met strict social distancing and safety requirements. Requests for exceptions will be reviewed by a panel of ANR faculty, staff and administrators, with recommendations forwarded to the college dean for final consideration.

Researchers looking for exceptions were asked to explain why the project should be allowed to continue under the suspension as well as detail how all aspects of the proposed work would conform to social distancing protocols. If cleared for approval, all of the research teams would be limited to a maximum of three people, with only one person being allowed in a vehicle at any time. Overnight travel and purchasing food during field research is highly discouraged.

In the letter, it was said that the ANR off-site research activities were suspended until May 15, which possibly could extend to June 30. The college researchers were encouraged to contact funding partners to see if funding would continue if field work was suspended and if not, they would have to prepare a list of students whose funding would be negatively impacted. The college was prepared to work to fill in funding gaps.

There have been no confirmed cases of the virus found on campus, but there have been suspicions.

On April 9, School of Pharmacy dean Kem Krueger sent out an email to pharmacy faculty and staff, letting them know there had been a possible exposure to the virus.

“We had a potential COVID exposure in the vivarium,” he wrote in the email. “I am working with the UW COVID command team to coordinate a deep cleaning of impacted areas. DO NOT use the elevators nor enter the animal care facilities until further notice.”

Krueger didn’t respond to a request for comment. UW spokesman Chad Baldwin said UW staffers took necessary precautions and treated the case as if it were positive, even though test results hadn’t come in yet. The impacted areas were sanitized and people who might have come into contact with the sick person were notified.

Ultimately, the person’s test results came back negative.

On April 13, Synakowski sent out a letter to UW faculty and staff, directing researchers to pause field research until at least July 30. Around that time, a reassessment will be made.

“While consistent with the recent announcement by UW of travel restrictions being extended, this change of posture reflects a tightened set of considerations against which exception requests will be evaluated,” Synakowski said in the letter. “This change is informed by consultation with leaders of field research enterprises regarding their concerns and observations made over the last few weeks. The default assumption by researchers should be that exceptions will be rare.”

Exceptions would only be considered for “mission-critical research” and projects taking place locally.

“You can’t have social distancing if you have eight people in a van,” Acting President Neil Theobald said of suspending field research during last week’s meeting of the board of trustees.

One of the university’s partners has also been heavily impacted by the virus, the Wyoming Integrated Test Center, which is a partner with the university’s School of Energy Resources. On April 13, the ITC announced it would suspend all testing and construction activities for the time being.

The ITC studies the capture, sequestration and management of carbon emissions from a coal-fired power plant.

With research mostly shut down for the time being, Baldwin and other on-campus staffers and faculty have noticed the difference.

“It’s a pretty quiet place around here,” he said.

Ellen Fike is a freelance writer living in Cheyenne. She can be reached at elfylucille@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter at @EllenLFike.