Dear Colleagues,

Two positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed for individuals working on the MBL campus. The individuals are self-isolating in accordance with Massachusetts Department of Public Health and CDC protocols. Under state and federal health privacy laws, no further information about the individuals is available. To date, nine members of the MBL community have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Contact tracing has been conducted. If you have not already been contacted directly, it means we do not have reason to think you had close contact with the individuals, per CDC guidelines. Specialized cleaning in the areas where the individual worked will be combined with continued lab-wide cleaning and sanitizing protocols.

We urge all faculty and staff to remain vigilant about social distancing, wearing masks, and practicing proper hygiene. We want to stress in particular the importance of keeping a social distance of 6 feet or greater. By following this guideline the requirement for any individual to be quarantined due to potential exposure will be minimized.

If you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, such as a fever, chills, respiratory illness, aches or change in taste and smell, please stay home and get a COVID-19 test. Testing can be done either through your primary healthcare provider or at one of the testing sites located throughout the state.

Please contact Human Resources at hr@mbl.edu with questions and concerns. In addition, information on COVID-19 guidance and policies are available on the COVID-19 Guidelines and Resources section of the intranet. The COVID-19 Dashboard reflects all MBL cases and includes key data points for the Town of Falmouth and Barnstable County.

Sincerely,

Paul Speer
Chief Operating Officer