MIO: September 2020

Dear colleagues,

I hope you all had a good rest during this summer vacation. The national and international situation COVID-19 is still fragile and as you can imagine, we must remain mobilized in the face of the crisis.

The situation can of course evolve, our guardians will let us know. Nevertheless, at this stage, and to comply with the measures taken by the Government for the private sector and the Prime Minister's announcement on Thursday, the dynamics of resumption of activity must remain the priority and the wearing of masks in all enclosed spaces where several people are located becomes mandatory. This means that the wearing of masks must be respected, outside buildings, in corridors, meeting rooms, offices and laboratories if there is more than one person. Meetings must be held primarily by video, if necessary, the number of persons must be limited to 6 in room Alboran, 8 in room Aegean, 2 in room Aquarium, 3 in room X106, 3 in room X040, 4 in room R131.

It will obviously not be simple, we are aware of this. When your activity allows it, and after contact with the MIO management, teleworking will be authorized according to rules which remain to be defined according to your activities and of course the instructions of your supervision, taking care to maintain the good dynamics of the projects in progress and of resumption on site, the link and the dialogue within the teams but also between structures and with our partners...  Note that remote work must be favoured as much as possible for vulnerable people. The system in place is maintained and the agents concerned must get closer to the prevention doctor of their structure. As in June, it will be necessary to fill in the provisional attendance tables that will be sent to you by the HR departments.

If one of us has been in contact with a person who tested positive with Covid-19, it is necessary to work remotely until the health authorities contact us. They will then decide to put in a fortnight the test pending the realization of a PCR test. If the result of this test is negative, the agent will be able to come back to work on site. If it is positive, the health authorities will establish with your help a list of contact cases. It is necessary that you inform your regional delegate of the situation so that he or she can assist in the identification of contact cases if necessary.

Beyond these general principles which apply to everyone in France (metropolitan and overseas), additional measures may be decided and taken locally, at the level of the regional delegations, if necessary, according to the instructions of the prefectural authorities. The measures relating to travel in France and Europe remain the same as those defined in July. However, in order to limit the spread of the virus and to participate in national efforts in this direction, I ask you to use videoconferencing as much as possible for meetings, juries, conferences, etc.

For the foreign students in our laboratory, we must be attentive and benevolent as to the conditions that can be put in place for their reception, notably with reference to what has been said above (telework/presential) and to ensure that the modalities of entry on French territory, defined by Campus France, are well implemented.

With regard to our representations abroad, specific instructions may be given depending on local health conditions and the measures taken by the countries. The IRD representatives on site with the embassies remain our focal points for any question on a specific area. This message is in accordance with IRD instructions and we are waiting for information from the other guardians. This information can therefore be modified in the margin.

Sincerely yours

Richard SEMPERE