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Laboratory courses require unique consideration of both student-to-student and student-to teaching staff interactions. The hands-on and collaborative nature of laboratory science may require creative restructuring and curricular flexibility to maintain the safety of all involved and control of the laboratory environment to minimize transmission of the virus.

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What barriers to infection can be implemented to limit student-to-student transmission of COVID-19?

Minimum requirements for most labs will include face masks and possibly gloves. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided interim guidelines for biosafety during the COVID-19 pandemic (see also put out by the State of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ). In addition to students wearing masks and possibly disposable gloves, suggested approaches include:

• Personal protective equipment
  • All members of the university community, per the campus COVID-19 Health and Safety Policy, are required to wear cloth face coverings on campus. Campus is working to provide two reusable cloth masks to all faculty, staff and students returning to campus.
• Movement in the Lab
  • If possible, students should enter and exit the laboratory space through different doors (one door for entry, one door for exit). When two doors are not available, student movement should be managed by teaching staff to maintain distance between students. No congregating outside of the lab should be allowed before the class begins. It may be useful to provide a syllabus statement about arriving at the lab no earlier than ten minutes before the class starts to prevent congregating. Students should be encouraged to move directly to their work space upon entry into the lab.
• Airflow
  • Maximizing airflow (or minimizing bad airflow) in the lab class can reduce aerosol virus transmission. Determining whether this can be done by opening windows or leaving fume hoods on will likely require input from Facilities Management.
• Workstations
  • Spacing of student stations and minimizing circulation of students in the classroom (e.g., by providing needed materials at every station) can minimize close student interactions. Where multiple copies of identical instruments are used, consider alternating them on the benches with other instrumentation that would not be used at the same time. For example, if all students in the lab need to weigh materials at the start of the class, the weighing scales should be spaced around the lab and interspersed with other equipment. Waiting positions for these instruments should be marked on the floor with tape, and where possible, sample drop-off points (with an associated sample data input form) should be made available to minimize wait time for heavily-used instruments.
• Physical Barriers
  • Where appropriate, physical barriers like plexiglass or plastic film could be placed between lab stations where students are facing each other, as in the case of lab benches or computer labs.  Where students are sitting next to each other, the 6-foot social distancing rule should be followed in lieu of plexiglass. You must consult with Facilities Management on any requests or proposals for installing such barriers to avoid unintended consequences such as ventilation impacts or damage to classroom infrastructure. Please route such requests through your department chair or building proctor.

How can student and teaching staff interactions be limited?

A primary approach to reducing student transmission is to reduce the number of students in a lab classroom at one time. The upper limit of the number of students in a given lab classroom will depend on the size of the classroom, the physical arrangement of the lab class, and airflow in the classroom. Facilities Management should be consulted for information specific to each teaching lab space. A way to cover multiple outcomes might be to plan out how labs would run with class sizes of both half the normal capacity, and one quarter the normal capacity, so that one of these can be adapted to whatever the final limit is determined to be.

• Limit hands-on work
  • In-person lab classwork should be limited to hands-on work that can only be done in person. Introductory presentations, exams, assembling lab reports, etc. should be done remotely.
• Create smaller class cohorts
  • If remote teaching can substitute for aspects of a laboratory class, lab classes can be split into cohorts, such that on a given week a fraction of the class is in the lab doing hands-on work, and other students are doing a remote component of the class. This can be achieved by, e.g., having an experiment schedule that alternates between in-person and remote experiments, and then having half the students start one week later, so that both cohorts still perform experiments in the same order.
• Modify lab protocols
  • Lab class protocols can be revised to minimize "dead time," where students are waiting for things like incubations, etc. Reducing the time to physically undertake lab experiments, combined with eliminating non-hands-on aspects of the lab class, may allow multiple (non-overlapping) cohorts to use a lab classroom in a class period previously used by a single lab class.
• Distance between faculty and students
  • Employing separation zones (e.g., a line indicating 10 ft from a lab class lectern) can help maintain social distancing between faculty and students. Departments should also provide students the minimum amount of space required by the . Current requirements are six feet distancing and no more than ten individuals in one gathering space. The University or Department may modify these requirements.
• Online office hours
  • One-on-one meetings between faculty/TAs and students are going to be challenging when they are held in-person, given the degree to which masks impair non-verbal communication. Scheduling and promoting online (e.g., Zoom) office hours specifically for one-on-one meetings may be the best approach for maintaining good communication with students in lab classes.

Can equipment be safely controlled and maintained?

• Frequent sanitizing
  • Rigorous disinfection of equipment used by multiple students even when gloves and masks are used. This should include protocols where every student cleans the equipment they are using before and after use. Routine cleaning of lab surfaces, door handles, sink handles, paper towel dispensers, and any other surfaces that are touched should be performed before and after every class session. Computer keyboard skins should be considered for quick and safe sanitization.
• Limit sharing of equipment between labs
  • Equipment used in individual teaching labs should remain in place during the semester. Sharing equipment between labs should be restricted to prevent cross-contamination of lab spaces.
• Limit the number of students using equipment
  • Consider staggering lab responsibilities so all students get experience with equipment, but not necessarily on the same day to prevent compromises in sanitization.