Coronavirus: information and guidelines.

Dutch  

There is currently a worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus. On this page, students and staff members of HOGENT can find up to date information.

On March 17, new measures were approved for the entire population. With these measures, the federal government wants to protect vulnerable groups and ensure that they receive proper care.

The general guidelines are:

• (1) avoid situations where many people gather and 
• (2) reduce contacts between healthy persons and potentially infected persons.

According to virologists, now is the time to work together to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

In case of contamination.

Notify the internal prevention service (frank.claeys@hogent.be) or occupational health physician (mathieu.versee@cohezio.be) immediately by e-mail. They can then pass on this information to the government's Infectious Disease Control Department (dienst Infectieziektenbestrijding).

Try to find out with whom you had close and non-close contact on that day.

• Close contact: eating together at the same table, sitting together at meetings, working together in the same office (where you are at a distance of 1 or 2 seats from the person), working in the same workshop or lab on the adjacent machine, ...
• Non-close contact: working in the same open plan office space (not necessarily on the same floor; at a distance of more than 2 seats), using the same toilet or eating space, walking through the same hallway, ... Non-close contacts must follow up their own symptoms.

The government's Infectious Disease Control Department regularly calls close contacts to check for any developing symptoms. They have to check their fever daily. 'Non-close' contacts should be extra vigilant for fever and symptoms.

HOGENT
measures.

• Students abroad:
  A lot of countries are starting to close their airspace and are discouraging all travel in and out of the country. The Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs is launching a crisis centre. HOGENT has provided a list of all our students who are currently abroad.
  
  The FPS Foreign Affairs asks each student abroad to contact the Belgian embassy in their country of residence. We therefore ask all students abroad to do this as soon as possible. You can find the details of Belgian embassies abroad via this link.
  
  Anyone abroad who is in distress can call the FPS Foreign Affairs' crisis number +32 2 501 40 00. Of course, HOGENT remains available to answer any questions. Make sure to keep your internship supervisor / contact at the International Office informed at all times.
   
• Education from home (until at least May 18th): All teaching activities will be offered digitally. There are no teaching activities on campus. 
  
  Lecturers who wish to explore alternative learning methods, can request support for offering their lessons digitally through Panopto via multimedia@hogent.be. Teachers are asked to inform their students of this in an appropriate way.
   
• Internships: 
  All internships, workplace learning and dual learning will be suspended immediately unless it is possible to do the internship by teleworking and all physical contact can be avoided. The students have to inform their internship organisation and internship coaches. Internship coaches are asked to contact the internship organisations and make an agreement about the further progress of the internship after the crisis.
  
  For the 3rd and 4th year of the bachelors in Nursing and Biomedical Laboratory Technology, internships can be continued. These people are much needed in hospitals and labs, so we leave it to the students to decide whether or not they continue their internships. All this on the condition that the internship organisation allows them to do so and severe hygiene precautions are guaranteed. We very much appreciate the social engagement of the students who choose to do so.
   
• Administration: All administrative departments and services continue to work, but the entire staff will work from home. Meetings can only be organised digitally.
   
• Events: All events (study days, parties, multi-day (foreign) trips and other meetings) up to May 18th will be cancelled. 
   
• Working from your place of residence (until at least April 19): 
  HOGENT encourages working from your place of residence as much as possible. The goal is to have a maximum number of employees working from their places of residence as much as possible (regardless of previous agreements). However, it is important to report any homeworking activities to your manager for insurance reasons. If you have questions about working from your place of residence, please contact your manager. 
   
• Are closed: All buildings and facilities of HOGENT are closed. Access is only allowed in very specific situations (e.g. necessary actions in ongoing research). You can apply for access via toegangscontrole@hogent.be.
   
• Remain open: student homes. Visits, meetings and gatherings are not allowed. Stay in your room as much as possible.

Preventative measures.

Please observe the following measures to prevent the transmission of viruses:

• Cough hygiene: if you sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with a disposable handkerchief and throw it away.
   
• If you don't have a disposable handkerchief, sneeze on your arm, not in your hands.
   
• Avoid shaking hands when greeting someone.
   
• Observe good hand hygiene: wash hands thoroughly with soap and water or disinfect with an alcohol-based hand gel. 
   
• Be alert for symptoms: cough, fever, shortness of breath... Contact a doctor by telephone if such symptoms appear.
   
• If you are ill, stay at your place of residence and stay away from people with an increased risk of health issues (people from the age of 60, sick people, people with a chronic disorder, ...).