This Week’s Updates
Masks Are Still Required
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recently adjusted its guidelines regarding masks, because of the health care nature of our work and learning environments, employees and students are still required to wear level 1 face masks – 3-ply procedure masks with ear loops – while indoors at the College of Medicine or Penn State Health. This applies to all students and employees, even those employees in administrative or nonclinical areas. Alternatively, KN95 masks can be used in place of procedure masks, but should not be worn in the clinical environment. Cloth masks are not permitted unless worn over a level 1 mask.
Medical and physician assistant students can continue to pick up approved masks in the Office of Medical Education (C1704), Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Graduate students can pick up masks from their department safety officer, from the Office of Graduate Studies or from Dr. Lang (C4723). The College of Medicine is only supplying level 1 procedure masks, not KN95 or N95 masks.
New Employees and Students Must Complete One-time Attestation
All new Penn State College of Medicine employees and students will be required to complete a one-time attestation stating they will not enter any College of Medicine building or Penn State Health clinical area if they have symptoms of COVID-19. Additionally, all new students or employees will be required to be vaccinated for COVID-19. If they are not vaccinated, to remain an employee or student on campus, they must have an approved medical or religious accommodation and submit to weekly COVID-19 testing.
In-Person Meetings and Events
We encourage organizers to continue to avoid in-person meetings, trainings and gatherings. However, we recognize the importance of some crucial in-person activities at the College of Medicine. In-person meetings are permissible if they meet the following criteria.
Permissible meetings that do not require prior approval:
- Indoor activities at the College of Medicine: Comply with up to 50% room occupancy, physical distancing, masking and other standard COVID-19 safety measures. The maximum capacity of each room is indicated on the door and must be adhered to strictly. No eating or drinking is permitted, except as described under “External speakers and visitors” below for a limited number of people meeting with visiting professors.
- Outdoor events: Those events held on College property within a tent or other enclosed or semi-enclosed space can have up to 50% occupancy and must adhere to physical distancing, masking and other COVID-19 safety measures. For events on College property that are held on open grounds, attendees must adhere to physical distancing, masking and standard COVID-19 safety measures.
- External speakers and visitors: The College recognizes the importance of having visiting professors give seminars and have in-person meetings with our faculty, staff and trainees. Beginning Monday, March 7, 2022, it will be permissible to have a seminar speaker, guest or visitor from outside the College, so long as that individual has completed the online visitor form. Activities for such individuals are expected to comply with standard COVID-19 safety measures, including masking and physical distancing. No more than three individuals should be present at any given time in an enclosed room when food and drink are provided and individuals are unmasked. Prior approve for such visits is not needed.
All other types of meetings or events that do not comply with the above require approval from Dr. Charles Lang, who can be reached at chl1@psu.edu.
In-Person Research Internships
After being suspended for the past two years because of the pandemic, the research internship program at the College of Medicine is scheduled to restart. The application portal will be open as of Friday, April 1, for students arriving on campus on or after Monday, May 2. At this time, the research internship program is not accepting applications from anyone under the age of 18.
This program is specific for those undergraduate college students – within or outside of Penn State – who wish to gain hands-on experience with basic science bench research. A full description of the program and the application for college students can be found here. Prior to online submission of the application, it is the student’s responsibility to identify and contact potential research mentors, have a mentor agree to take the student into their lab, complete all required online training modules and complete all required clearances. This program is not designed for those students who are seeking clinical experiences or research involving human subjects or patients. Clinical experiences and research involving human subjects are managed by Penn State Health. Questions related to such activities can be sent to AffiliationAgreements@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.
Research mentors at the College are asked to carefully weigh existing COVID-19 safety guidelines and the presence of existing research personnel in their lab prior to accepting a research intern into their lab. Under no condition should accepting an undergraduate summer student diminish the research time available to graduate students or postdoctoral fellows already in the lab. The laboratory mentor or supervisor is responsible for making arrangements for students to receive all appropriate training. Summer students may begin work only after all training has been completed, as outlined in the application. All interns will be required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and submit a complete immunization and infectious disease report to Student Health prior to their arrival on campus.
Questions related to research internships can be directed to Charles Lang at chl1@psu.edu.