“We very much hope that the exams can go ahead as planned”

“The epidemiological situation is a cause of great concern”. This was the warning given in the Federal Council’s press release in the first week of January. It advised the cantons to tighten measures even further, including the obligation to work from home and other restrictions on gatherings. Ulrich Weidmann, head of the ETH Covid-19 task force, explains how the university is managing the current situation.

Professor Weidmann, the Federal Council imposed even stricter measures in December, including the closure of restaurants and bars, as well as cultural, sports and leisure facilities. But there has been no further general communication at ETH. Why is that?

The ETH Coronavirus task force has not seen the need to provide more detailed communication, as the measures announced by the Federal Council have barely affected our existing master plan. So our plan is still applicable. Our biggest concern has always been the forthcoming exam session starting towards the end of January. As we have already announced, it is important for students to sit some of these exams in person, so their performance can be assessed fairly and there is no compromise to the quality of the education we provide. The difficult circumstances obviously create uncertainty. Given this backdrop, the Rector explained the situation to students directly in an email at the end of the year and invited them all to a town hall meeting, where Ms Springman and her colleagues from the Rectorate were on hand to answer any questions about exam procedures and plans for the forthcoming semester.

So nothing has changed in the plans to hold exams, even if a new and far more infectious coronavirus variant has since emerged?

All Executive Board members are confident exams can go ahead as planned – naturally with very strict safety measures where necessary. Thorough checks have confirmed the effectiveness of our precautionary measures. Even so, we cannot rule out the possibility of the authorities passing further measures in the coming weeks that could prohibit face-to-face examinations. If we are forced to make changes to the exam session, the Rector will provide the relevant information with plenty of notice.

Is there a Plan B if this comes about?

Yes, the Rectorate is preparing for this scenario, whereby the concrete details of the plan depend on the severity of potential new restrictions and when they come into effect. The Federal Council will announce new measures on 13 January, and the exam period starts on 25 January. We need to be prepared for the fact that stricter measures may only be introduced during the course of the exam session. The top priority of the Rector and the entire Executive Board continues to be that no student should lose a year of study due to the coronavirus, and that fairness must be maintained without compromising the quality of performance assessments. Another goal is to return to a limited amount of in-person teaching over the course of the Spring Semester wherever possible. Even though vaccinations are starting, the situation will depend heavily on the rapid containment of the mutated virus.

You said earlier that the National Council’s decision at the end of the year barely affected the current version of the ETH master plan. Even so, it is had certain consequences for the life of ETH members…

Obviously ETH members have been very badly personally affected by the tighter measures: for example, they have not been able to play sport at the ASVZ, like all Swiss residents. A particular characteristic of ETH Zurich is the high proportion of students with limited direct personal support. The situation is particularly tough for them. Although I personally believe these measures will be effective in containing the spread of the virus, at the same time they are not good for the mental health of many ETH members.

Regarding mental health: it seems quite a lot of attention was given to this aspect when drawing up the measures at ETH recently …

That’s right. Last spring, during the first wave of the pandemic, ETH acted very quickly and imposed stricter measures than those recommended by the federal government. Back then we hoped that these measures would only be in place for a few weeks and good weather conditions would also provide plenty of opportunity for outdoor pursuits. But when the second wave hit in autumn, we had to adapt to long months with short days and inhospitable weather which mounted a serious challenge to everyone’s mental wellbeing. That’s why, for example, we are keeping our buildings open to provide students and staff the opportunity to come to the university during the day if they are suffering badly from cabin fever at home. In addition, our new Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership, Julia Dannath, will be holding monthly town hall meetings on the topic of mental fitness.

So are the measures taken by ETH effective in containing the spread of the virus? Or to put it another way: how are the infection numbers?

Basically the figures are reassuring, as only some 400 cases have been registered in ETH members since the start of the pandemic, split equally between students and employees. This is only a fraction of the national average. Furthermore, no clusters have been recorded in specific organisations. From this we can safely conclude that our members have acted extremely responsibly even outside the university and that our measures to contain the spread within ETH Zurich have been very successful. Whereas between 40 and 80 cases were recorded every week as recently as October, the weekly figure has been just over twenty cases since the start of November. Obviously we realise there must be a fair number of unrecorded cases. We can only record those cases that have been notified to us. There may be some people who have had a positive test result but have not notified us because they have been isolating at home and not been on campus for a while. But even taking this into account, the number of cases is still well below the national average. There is currently no need to introduce stricter measures at ETH Zurich.