The roughly 25-member DESY task force has already met more than 30 times since the beginning of the pandemic crisis. End of holidays, school closures, shutdown – the decisions that had to be taken by DESY and its staff were too important and far-reaching. Even now, with responsibility and a sense of balance, experts from the fields of safety and health management, representatives of the Board of Directors and the research departments as well as many specialist groups are negotiating the way through and out of the crisis. After all, the aim is to ensure the health and safety of all employees and guests, while at the same time making operations as normal as possible.

Orientation, rules, recommendations: “This crisis makes it particularly clear how many things are involved in operating such a large research centre and how closely everything is interwoven,” says DESY Director Christian Harringa, who heads the task force. The list of questions and topics is complex and goes far beyond orders for protective masks and disinfectants: can orders from politicians lead to the complete closure of the centre? Who is absolutely necessary on the campus to ensure the safety of staff and facilities? And are the IT and network capacities sufficient for the countless remote accesses from home office? Even cleaning procedures for the buildings had to be rethought and contingency plans drawn up for legally binding tasks such as the payment of social security contributions and invoices.

Another important assignment for the task force is information and communication during the crisis. This includes selecting reliable experts and decision-makers worldwide and setting up communication channels to reach as many employees as possible with clear information and to answer questions quickly and specifically.

Since the beginning of May, DESY is gradually switching to secure normal operation. The staff will find out what this means in the regular circulars of the Board of Directors with current information on the virus and the pandemic. DESY’s Corona Task Force will continue to observe closely any further developments, especially those pertaining to the company premises, in the interest of us all.