To the Purdue CHE community, please stay safe as we strive collectively to “flatten the curve” on this pandemic. They goal is to lower the peak (number of critically
ill) to a level that can be managed by our healthcare infrastructure.
·
To the faculty and staff: the announcement on telecommuting/remote work by the Provost Jay Akridge and HR VP Chris Ruhl is the official endorsement
of the CHE plan we enacted last week. We do our work, but in a manner that dampens transmission of the virus. On the research front, many groups already have a process in place, shared with the School (X.O. David Corti and Safety Officer Gabriela Nagy).
·
To the students: a number of excellent computer simulations are now on the internet and YouTube with data from the regions of China, Italy, and the
USA to create models on the impact of isolation procedures/policy on the peak numbers. This virus is borne by micro-droplet aerosols that can enter ventilation systems. And on ceramic and stainless steel surfaces, the virus half-life is many hours if not days.
Healthy but infected individuals that do not show any symptoms thus become “super-spreaders”.
·
Mass testing (supply chain issues): there are acute shortages of the reagents used by the Qiagen and Roche tests, even though the factories in Hilden,
Germany and Barcelona, Spain are working around the clock. It will take some time to ramp up production in the USA (per Qiagen statement re the plant in Germantown, MD). Without the onset of large-scale testing, the duration of these self-isolation policies
may be longer than the original estimates.
Again, please do you part to keep everyone safe!
--- Sang
Sangtae Kim
Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Head
Davidson School of Chemical Engineering
From: Purdue Today [mailto:purduetoday@purdue.edu]
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2020 8:34 AM
To: Kim, Sangtae <kim55@purdue.edu>
Subject: Coronavirus news roundup; Benefitfocus; tobacco-cessation waiver
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