IIT Bombay Reboot Committee Report
Committee Members:
1. Mohd. Zakir Hussain (General Secretary, Hostel Affairs)
2. Radhik Rammohan (General Secretary, Academic Affairs PG)
3. Ms. Nisha Chikkara (Student task force member)
4. Dr. Banumathy Srikant (IITB Hospital)
5. Prof. George Mathew (Associate Dean, Student Affairs)
6. Prof. Kameswari Chebrolu (CSE)
7. Prof. Kiran Kondabagil (BSBE)
8. Prof. Ruchi Anand (Chairperson, HHAC)
9. Prof. Prita Pant (Associate Dean, Academic Programme, Convener)
GENERAL GUIDELINES:
● Masks must be worn in public at all times.
● At least 6 feet of space must be maintained between people at all times.
● Meetings should be conducted by VC unless absolutely essential. If in-person meetings have to be conducted, then large rooms with good ventilation (no AC) should be used and 6 feet of distance must be maintained.
● To dissuade people from gathering in cafeterias or coffee rooms, they should be kept closed.
● In places such as offices or labs where we expect more than one person to be present at the same time, 6 feet of space must be maintained between people, at all times while working. This can be done by: (i) Reduced occupancy, (ii) rearranging furniture and equipment and (iii) staggered timing for work.
● A few plexiglass screens may be installed in places where face to face meetings cannot be avoided and in offices where distancing is not possible.
● Everyone should be mindful of hygiene, including washing hands with soap and water frequently.
● Those who are suffering from cough, fever, bodyache, diarrhoea etc should not come to office and should instead report to the hospital. This can be enforced by all of us filling a web based form that seeks yes/no responses to questions such as:
Do you have (i) fever (ii) recent loss of taste etc. before we leave home for work in the morning. Those answering yes to any Covid-like symptoms should stay at home or visit the hospital.
● Since we expect reduced housekeeping staff in the initial period, everyone should contribute to keeping their surroundings as clean as possible, especially inside laboratories.
● Heads of units can decide on a cleaning schedule, ensuring that common areas are cleaned on priority and disinfected at least once a day.
● Those with underlying health conditions that may put them at a higher risk due to COVID 19, must not be asked to come to the office or lab.
● A list of general do’s and don’ts is provided at the end of this document, which should be displayed in departments, offices, hostels and common areas.
REOPENING PROCESS
Need everyone’s participation to make the campus safe for us to resume research and teaching activities. While classes have moved online for the Autumn 2020 semester, labs need to reopen for research. Following are the distribution of responsibilities in this regards:
A. RESPONSIBILITY of PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Implemented as PI checklist)
Mandatory requirements that must be met by any lab that wants to reopen.
1. Adequate separation between students - required to maintain at least 6 feet distance between the students at all times. A typical 30X10 sq. ft. lab would accommodate at most 2 students at a time.
2. Review the layout of equipment and ensure that equipment distribution is such that distancing should be possible at all times
3. Rearrange common-use equipment (as far as possible) so that people do not pass each other often to use them
4. General cleaning of the lab after being locked for a long time. Make sanitizers available in the lab and encourage students to clean tables, door handles and other commonly touched surfaces frequently.
5. Review the ventilation in the lab. Wherever possible, try to get circulation of fresh air either by opening windows and/or installing exhaust fans.
6. Draw up a lab use schedule (for example using google calendar) if there are more than 1 student. Discuss this with users and emphasize the need to maintain a log of lab visit timings.
7. Review of equipment in the lab and safety measures related to their re-start after being shut for a long time, and use.
B. RESPONSIBILITY of HEADS of ACADEMIC UNITS AND CENTRES (Implemented as HoD checklist)
1. Develop SoP for the department covering cleaning and sanitization requirements of the departments.
2. Coordinate with the institute infrastructure committee to procure sufficient dispensers for sanitizers, masks etc.
3. Ensure and document that every PI who wants to reopen their labs have completed the requirements listed in A above.
4. Ensure and document that all students who are being called have given their consent as per the prescribed form.
5. Identify an open space and put a few chairs and tables for people to use while eating food that they bring with them. Ensure adequate distance is maintained between the chairs. Provide sanitizer dispensers and tissues so that each user can clean their table and chair after use.
C. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INSTITUTE
1. PHO office will carry out regular cleaning of common areas and labs, offices as instructed by the Head of the department.
2. PHO will also sanitize the washrooms once or twice a day, depending upon usage and disinfect them once a week. They will also ensure that soap is refilled regularly.
3. Departments/institute committee will arrange for sanitizer dispensers in common areas.
4. Institute is making infrastructural changes to reduce contacts with things such as door handles, taps etc. Extensive work has been carried out in the H12, 13, 14 mess Ventilation in offices is being improved by installing exhaust fans. Where person to person interaction is expected, plexiglass barriers are being installed between the staff members and visitors. Some images are in Annexure I. Similar arrangements are underway in all departments and the Main Building.
5. In case of an infection the Institute contact tracing team will carry out contact tracing (in addition to the contact tracing that BMC does).
D. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE IITB HOSPITAL
1. Any person with COVID like symptoms must report to the hospital immediately.
2. Depending on the symptoms, the hospital will observe, admit and do a Covid 19 swab test.
3. Once testing is recommended the person will be admitted in the hospital.
4. The patient will be Isolated while test results are awaited. 15 isolation rooms are available in the hospital.
5. In addition, for quarantine, there are 40 rooms in Van Vihar guest house, 100 rooms in Hostels 12, 13, 14 , and 40 rooms in H 10.
6. If the swab test comes positive, and the person has mild symptoms (fever, nausea, diarrhoea, sore throat, cough, loss of smell, bodyache) he/she will be treated at the IITB hospital.
7. If the person has moderate to severe symptoms (covid pneumonia with dropping Oxygen saturation levels, hemodynamic instability, mental confusion, continuous fever) then he/she will be transferred to tertiary care set up such as Shushrusha Hospital or any other hospital. Transfer to a particular hospital is under the purview of BMC and as per bed availability.
8. As per BMC guidelines on Discharge of mild cases - 10 days from symptom onset and 3 days without fever. Following discharge, the person will be sent to institutional quarantine for 7 days.
9. Guidelines issued by BMC are updated from time to time and will be incorporated in the hospital protocol.
BRINGING STUDENTS BACK TO CAMPUS
Students should return to campus only if they want to come back voluntarily and their research is such that they must be on campus to carry out research activities.
Guides are requested to not insist on the return of students if they do not want to, and can work from home.
Students have been divided between phases to reopen gradually and assess the situation before calling the next cohort of students. If students from a phase would prefer to wait, they can do so. However approval of their request would depend on various factors such room availability, department approval, COVID situation in the city and on campus.
1. First year Masters, and PhD students should not come to the IITB campus for Autumn 2020 semester. Instead they should attend classes online and complete the coursework prescribed for their first semester.
2. All undergraduate students (BTech, BS, Bdes) students should not come to the IITB campus for Autumn 2020 semester. Instead they should attend classes online and complete the coursework prescribed for the current semester. A few undergraduates may be permitted to return to campus in case they have a BTech, BDes, BS project which requires them to work in a lab. However these numbers should be small. Wherever possible, students should be encouraged to work from home.
3. Rest of the students should not plan to return to campus until further notice.
4. The institute has a separate committee, headed by Prof. Manjunath, which is looking into delivery of online classes. In cases where students cannot access content online, adequate provisions will be made to help them catch up with course-work - this may include financial assistance to procure laptops, data packages, or identifying nearby venues where they could access the online content.
5. However if returning to campus is the only option which would allow the students to attend online classes, then the same will be permitted on a case to case basis.
6. Students whose home environment is such that they cannot focus on academic activities will be permitted back on a case to case basis. Such requests will be handled as quickly and as confidentially as possible. Faculty advisor/Guide, SWC recommendation, SC-ST Cell PIC, Gender Cell → final approval by Reboot committee.
| Dates | Group of students | Instructions | Total numbers (only volunteers among these would return) |
|
Phase 0, June 8th 2020 |
Students who have been staying on campus throughout the lockdown can resume research | Work in the lab only if needed, and after discussing safety related issues with the Guide/ lab in-charge | 90-100 |
|
Phase 1, August 5th, 6th |
PhD students from 2012-2016 batches and integrated MTech+PhD students from 2012-2016 batches, whose permanent address is from Mumbai (not exceeding 2 students per lab). |
Hostel stay for 2 days for observation. Strict social distancing and NO lab visits. Self evaluation of health and immediate reporting to Hospital in case of any health issues. |
128 - only 28 gave consent. |
|
Phase 2a, August 10th to Sept. 7th |
PhD students from 2012-2016 batches and MTech+PhD and MSc+PhD students from 2012-2016 batches, who live in cities other than Mumbai. |
Students must stay in the designated quarantine rooms for 14 days for observation. Strict social distancing and NO lab vists. Self evaluation of health and immediate reporting to Hospital in case of any health issues. |
About 1500 |
|
Phase 2b, August 3rd to Sept. 7th |
Students who are unable to study from home (for reasons such as erratic electricity supply, poor internet connectivity, very crowded living space etc.) as per the recommendation of their department, are being allowed to return to campus, after approval by the reboot committee. |
Students must stay in designated quarantine rooms for 14 days for observation. Strict social distancing and NO lab visits. Classes must be attended from their hostel rooms. Self evaluation of health and immediate reporting to Hospital in case of any health issues. |
Expected to be about 100 |
|
Phase 3, |
Students of the following batches will be asked to fill the consent form if they want to return:
Depending on room availability in hostels and the COVID situation, the total number of students that can be accommodated would be decided. This number would be distributed among departments in proportion of their student strength. Department decides from among them who to call. This process may be done in multiple cycles. |
Students must stay in designated quarantine rooms for 14 days for observation. Strict social distancing and NO lab visits. Classes (if any) must be attended from their hostel rooms. Self evaluation of health and immediate reporting to Hospital in case of any health issues. |
The Process:
● Students fill up a consent and health declaration form (https://bit.ly/iitb-consent).
● This list is shared with Heads of departments. Head should seek inputs from PhD supervisors to ensure that incoming students are sparsely distributed across various labs/research groups. Also whether the student must return to campus, or if it is possible for them to work from home.
● Once approval from departments is obtained, students will be sent a pre-arrival form.
● Students should buy COVID health insurance whose coverage is valid for at least 6 months (some recommendations in Annexure II) - institute will reimburse upto Rs. 500 towards premium paid against submission of receipt.
● Within a department, the Each PI should complete their respective checklist as mentioned earlier. For each department, the Head should also complete their checklist.
● Students with physical or mental health concerns should be encouraged to work from home as far as possible.
Norms to be followed by students :
1. Students will be asked to reach campus over a specified window of time their arrival information will be collected (through the pre-arrival form).If students want to arrive later than the window specified for their phase, they should mention it in the form, along with reasons for delaying travel.
2. On arrival at IITB Main Gate their temperature will be measured through a thermal/IR scanner, and they will proceed to the designated quarantine location.
3. Each student will be given a welcome kit consisting of 2 masks, a plastic key to be used for pressing lift buttons, and a sanitizer spray bottle.
4. Students will be asked to stay confined to the quarantine area for 14 days (as per prevailing BMC norms). During this time, they will fill up a health information sheet via Google forms, which will be flagged to the advisor if there is anything of concern.
5. A list of general do’s and don’ts (at the end of the document) will be shared with students and also displayed in hostels and departments.
6. All students may be asked to install some app that can be used for contact tracing, if needed.
7. It is essential that students maintain social distancing while using common facilities such as mess and washroom. A/Dean (SA) along with the student task force team has planned ways to maintain strict hygiene and distributed usage of washrooms.
8. Initially the students will stay in H12-13-14 and H10. Mess will be operational only in H12-14 and H10. Strict staggered mess timings will be followed. For large and multiple hostels with single mess, hostel and floor wise staggered timing will be followed.
9. After the initial period of hostel stay, if everyone is OK (as per self declaration) they can start going to their labs, strictly maintaining social distancing while going to departments, working in the lab and during meetings. Individual labs may set up their own protocols for sanitizing common surfaces within the lab.
10. Students should not go outside campus unless it is absolutely essential (with approval from A/Dean (SA)).
11. Students may be asked to move to rooms/hostels different from the ones they were occupying before lockdown to reduce crowding. Adean SA will also decide how many messes should function and their hours of opening
Postscript:
The well known doctor-author, Atul Gawande, talks in his recent article (in the New Yorker) about 5 pillars on which to build our strategy for dealing with COVID19. Four are hygiene, distancing, screening, and masks; while the fifth and most important pillar is culture. We have to realise that our actions now have consequences for the entire community and hence following rules is a collective responsibility.
COVID-19 pandemic: Dos and Don’ts
1. Do wash your hands for at least 20 seconds several times a day. Soap and water work the best. If you want to use a hand sanitizer, make sure that it has at least 60% alcohol. The overuse of alcohol-based sanitizer is not advised.
- When to wash your hands?
- Before eating
- After using the washroom
- After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
- Accidently touching any surface in common areas
2. Please make a conscious effort not to touch your eyes, nose, and moth. Whenever you catch yourself touching your face, immediately wash your hands and face with soap and water.
3. Do not step out of your room unless it is absolutely necessary.
4. No more than 2 persons can ride the elevator at a time. Do not talk or touch any metal surface when you are in the elevator. Try not to operate the elevator buttons with bare hands. Wash your hands immediately after your ride.
5. Those of you who stay on the lower floors, take the stairs.
6. Plan your laboratory work so that you minimize the time you spend in the Department. Let your supervisor know about your daily schedule.
7. Minimize your stay in the department. As soon as you finish your work for the day, head back to your room.
8. Do not assemble in the corridors or in the dining hall. Please leave the dining hall and head back to your room as soon as you finish eating.
9. Whenever you step out of your room, make sure to wear a good mask covering your nose and mouth.
10.Please ensure “physical distancing” of a minimum of 6 feet (2 meters) in all common areas.
11.Please remember, wearing a mask does not provide complete protection unless it is an N95 mask! The cotton and laboratory masks are just good enough as long as you avoid chatting to another person for more than a few minutes, even if you are wearing a mask and maintaining a physical distance of 6 feet.
12. If you have any symptoms such as dry cough, fever, headache, bodyache, diarrhoea, report to the hospital immediately, and also inform your supervisor.
13.Keep track of the number of people you come in to close contact with every day.
14.Keep track of your temperature at least twice a day for one week after you arrive at IIT Bombay.
-------------------------------------------------
Annexure I
Arrangements in H12-13-14 mess, sanitizer dispensers and foot openers for doors
Annexure II
COVID insurance information, thanks to Prof. Anindya Dutta
| Edelweiss General Insurance Co.Ltd. | Oriental Insurance | New India Assurance Co. Limited | Digital General Insurance |
|
Contact Person: Shuvayan Bhowmik Mob: 9819413806
Insured amount : Rs. 5 Lakhs Period : 6.5 months Premium : Rs.1222.00 incl. GST (for 6.5 month)
Only for Covid 19
The policy covers Hospitalisation Expenses for In-Patient Care or Home Care Treatment incurred for treatment of Covid-19 during the Policy Period Pre and Post Hospitalisation expenses covered for 15 and 30 days respectively. Pre hospitalization expenses shall cover the costs of diagnostics towards COVID – 19 Waiting Period: 15 days from the first policy commencement date Age : 20-35 years
many other technical terms which I didnt understand 1. Is the testing cost included in the Policy . - Yes, the same would come in the pre-hospitalization limit of 15 days 2. If so, how many tests can be done. - there is no such limit ; if the doctor mentions for more tests in his prescription and the same is within the sum insured of the policy taken, it would be covered 3. Are hospitals viz. Hiranandani (Powai), Godrej (Vikhroli) and Shushrusha hospital (Vikhroli) come under your panel of Hospitals. - Hiranandani Powai and Godrej Vikhroli are in the cashless list. List of Hospital in the attached mail. 4. Will all these be cashless treatment . - if the patient gets admitted in the panel hospitals, it would be cashless ; else reimbursement.
|
Contact Person: Stuti Jaiswal MOB: +91-9167072502
Insured amount : Rs. 5 Lakhs Period : 6.5 months
Premium : Rs.1226.00 incl. GST (for 6.5 month)
Only for Covid 19 The policy covers Hospitalisation Expenses for In-Patient Care or Home Care Treatment incurred for treatment of Covid-19 during the Policy Period
Pre and Post Hospitalisation expenses covered for 15 and 30 days respectively. Pre hospitalization expenses shall cover the costs of diagnostics towards COVID – 19 Waiting Period: 15 days from the first policy commencement date No deductibles in this product.
The Policy provides for Cashless Facility and/or reimbursement of Hospitalisation/Home care expenses for treatment of Covid-19. Cashless Facility will be available in Network hospitals only if TPA’s service is opted in the Policy.
|