I am writing to share my thoughts and experience of some practices and actions that you can adopt to support your lab and our institute at this difficult time. It is a long-read because I tried to categorize many things that you can do now and what you can expect to do in the foreseeable future. Therefore, there are three parts to my narrative: I) what you can do now to support your lab, II) what you can do now to support the institute and III) what you may have to deal with in the near future.

I) What you can do now to support your lab

There are two main aspects of what you have to think about regarding immediate action. The physical health of your lab, which includes measures to reduce the chance of infection and also other underlying conditions and ones that take care of the psychological state lab members. This also depends on whether your lab members are currently under quarantine.

1) Physical health

Infection prevention

I have written enough about prevention of infection so I do not have to repeat myself here. The best current scientific advice is that social distancing is the single most effective way we have to reduce the spread. Therefore, please close your labs entirely and for the time being ask the members of your lab to stay at home. As the president of Harvard said a few days ago when closing the University: “there is no experiment so important or expensive an investment that researchers should feel obliged to come in.”

There is a rationale for why staying in self-quarantine for some time starting right now may be the best thing to do. At present, with the panic-shopping on the streets and supermarkets the shops are going to be full of frantic people. If your labmates have enough food for the moment, it is likely that the best way to go shopping will be in a few days, once the panic calms down and the shops have a chance to restock. It is likely that the government will eventually introduce measures that regulate social distancing in common space, such as queuing at a distance of 1-2 meters, regulate the number of people allowed in a supermarket at the same time and also introduce other regulatory measures that will make it easier for everyone to maintain their distance in public places.

Indirect health effects

There are plenty of people in our institute that have other underlying medical conditions. At the very least you should be aware that some of the people in your lab have an underlying health issue that makes them more vulnerable. If you know who these people are, encourage them more convincingly to stay at home and self-quarantine. Some of the people in your lab may have recently come to this country and do not speak any German and do not know what to do in a medical emergency at this time. Help all of your labmates have a good emergency plan, make sure that they know the relevant numbers to call in case of a medical emergency that is not virus-related.

For those people under quarantine it is good to suggest that they understand that this means in many cases a substantial period of time (I will get to this later more). This means that to maintain their physical health you may wish to suggest to them to seek an exercise routine that they can do at home.

Help your people develop an emergency plan for medical conditions

In case of a medical emergency that is either virus related or not, make sure that everyone understands the proper protocols and what to do. This especially is important for non-German speaking lab members. At the present time our health services may be overloaded, so in addition to having the contact of the health services for non-virus related issues it is important to make sure that your lab mates understand whom they would call (the emergency numbers) or whom they could ask for help with understanding instructions in German (it could be you, for example).

2) Psychological health

People still working

The psychological health of the people that are not under quarantine and especially those that are still coming into the lab is super important. Everyone is under a lot of strain, and this can start to show in interpersonal relationships at work, in the number of mistakes that people do, etc. Of course, the obvious thing you can do to help is to send the people home. If you are supervising someone who is part of a skeleton crew (such as the mice facility) it is important to make sure that you can help this person avoid the external stressors. Help them navigate the daily challenges that may now become additional stressors: stocking up on food, navigating public transport, asking to make sure that their family is OK. You can become an important outlet for these people, which would make sure that coming to work for them would be a way to relieve their stress of the external work. That would work the best if these individuals know that they are coming into an empty and a controlled environment, where they know that they can expect adherence to strict social distancing protocols and restrictions that protect their safety. I think that it is acceptable to adopt such strict measures that are specific to your lab, floor, building (coordinate with your colleagues). For these people who absolutely must be at work or the institute collapses make sure that you implement and enforce social distancing protocols. I am sure that this will give a piece of mind to those workers whose work is absolutely essential.

People under quarantine and positive COVID-19 cases

Those individuals who are under quarantine orders and COVID-19 positive cases are presently the people that may be in need of support. Having said that, for different people support means a different thing. Some people need to talk, some people need to be left alone. Everyone deals with stress and uncertainty in a different way and you need to be sensitive, understanding but also to be able to recognize these different needs. The best way to approach this is to just let the people know that you are always there to talk if they need you. At the same time, be respectful of their privacy, do not be overbearing and do not relate the content of the conversations you have with people who confide in you to others. Make sure you treat more or less any information given to you under these circumstances as confidential. Make sure that everyone in your lab knows how to contact you and that they know that you are open to be contacted should they wish or need to. Those individuals that will be taken to the hospital may require individual attention and you will have to be extra attentive to their needs for social interaction or for privacy.

Quarantined but not known to be positive people should also understand that they have tons of time to CALMLY think about their plans. With some likelihood they will be in quarantine for several days to up to 2 weeks. It is likely that very soon the health system will be overwhelmed with cases and tests will not be collected or analysed fast enough, so even if they are waiting for their own results they are likely to wait for quite some time. Urge patience with the local health system - people will be obviously anxious to know their own result, explain to them that while they are asymptomatic even if they were positive nothing would probably change: they would just be told to self-quarantine. If the results are not known, encourage them to be more self-aware about their general state (take temperature, be aware of breathing and cough). But also do not have them frantically jump at every sneeze they have, explain that for this disease to have an impact on them it must have a serious presentation (the would feel not slightly but really sick). You can encourage them to call our campus services and the official services. However, these services are likely to be overwhelmed soon, so it may be up to you to help people regulate their anxieties and make the best choices of what to do.

People not working but not under quarantine

Those individuals who are not at work but are not under quarantine also need support.  It is a hard challenge for them to stay at home, or be in an environment that they perceive as inherently hostile, and it is also hard for you to give them the appropriate support. For those individuals not under strict quarantine it may be beneficial to introduce a routine with long outside excursions in parks and the abundant wilderness around the IST. Those that can leave the house and just go for a walk to the woods should be encouraged to do so.

They need to understand probabilities and the concept of risk management. They should know that it is risky to be in a public place, but that this risk is manageable with good social and hygiene practices. They also need to know that the virus is not the Black Death and not Ebola. The situation is serious, but our world is inherently dirty, that is why we have an immune system, and a single lapse (a touch of the face, forgetting to wash hands, going shopping) is not an immediate death sentence and no reason to panic or take drastic action. It is just a good lesson not to do it again. Actually, there are no reasons to panic at all - you must convince people that the best way to approach this is a rational approach to risk management. They should understand what behaviour is riskiest and what is safest, they must learn how to properly manage those risks.

Underlying mental health issues

Please take special care to understand that there are likely to be people at the institute (possibly your lab) that have an underlying mental health issue. Please utilize our campus psychologist, be aware of what to do if these individuals go through a mental health crisis (know the relevant emergency phone numbers) and become aware of what to do under various circumstances. Encourage your lab members to contact the psychologist for a consultation if they are starting to get overwhelmed with the situation, with a positive diagnosis or with being under quarantine (especially a long one). Understand, that in a relatively short period of time the health services may be so stretched out that they may not be able to offer timely intervention. Make sure that you are conscious that a crisis may happen to one of your students and think about whom you can ask for help among your own social network in such a situation. That will help you maintain control of your own state of mind if that happens.

3) Who should be under quarantine?

Obviously, anyone who had prolonged social contact with a person who is positive or being tested are a “first contact” case and they must go under strict quarantine at home. No excuses, no last run to the shop, nothing. They go home and stay there. Such news may come as a shock for many, help them understand and accept, especially if they live with someone. It is also a must for anyone who is a “second contact”, those who had prolonged social contact with any of the “first contacts” are also quarantined. The reason why this is practiced is because the virus has a long incubation period and by the time the “first contact” is confirmed as positive, if the “second contacts” have not been isolated they may have infected quite a few people. I think that this is a very important tool to help limit the social spread of the virus.

Explain to the people in your lab under quarantine or those staying at home that the primary reason why they should restrict their movements in public places as much as they can is not because being outside poses immediate mortal danger. It is rather to ensure the safest possible environment for those people who do not have the option to stay home that are maintaining all of the necessary infrastructure for everyone else to survive. Doctors, drivers, people delivering groceries, working at power, water, and sewage plants. The fewer people on the street and especially public buildings, the less of a chance these people doing these critical jobs will get sick and everyone loses these services. It is a matter of probability.

4) Maintaining a support network

Mental preparation for a substantial time in isolation

It is likely that in the near future most of your lab will be on quarantine or spending most of their time at home. It is also very likely that this situation will persist for a considerable amount of time, on the order of 1-2 months. It is important to prepare, especially mentally, that this situation is here to stay. Encourage them to relax. It is very important for people to feel safe in their homes, and feel safe to go on their chores when the need arises. Our usual daily lives are super busy, and all of a sudden people staying at home will not have much to do. Those with children will have extra complications of managing the risk of going outside (probably quite safe if they are not quarantined and not going to a public place) versus having a child go stir-crazy in the confined space of an apartment. In such situations it is useful to create a set of routines and follow them day to day. This can incorporate exercise, additional educational activity, theoretical research, more frequent calls to family and friends, etc. Encourage your lab members to set up such a routine - they will help to create discipline potentially for many days of restricted movement.

Help for quarantined people

It is likely that some people would not be ready for a quarantine. Make sure you help alleviate these stresses. Make sure these people understand that anything they need others can bring to them. The right way to do it is to bring it to their doorstep, step way back, then have the people open the door and take the delivery. I hope that every person in the lab has a social network that they can rely on in such a scenario. You may know the loners and take special care to make sure that these individuals have someone to ask for help. As their leader you are a natural person for them to ask - never refuse, except in cases you really cannot help (like you are under quarantine), in which instances you should help this person seek for an alternative solution among your own social network.

The maintenance of online instruction is a great tool not just to keep the process going, but also to be a part of the routine structure of the day. Please pay extra attention to the maintenance of regularity of classes because for many students this will form a skeleton of their routine schedule, which can have a beneficial effect. On the other hand, somehow you must balance liniancy, especially because not all students will find it equally easy to switch to online instruction.

General social interaction

In the new daily life there will be tons of questions regarding the risk that are not immediately obvious. Is it safe to take the garbage out if I am under quarantine? Is the tap water still safe to drink? Can I drink schnapps to prevent the spread of the virus? I am under quarantine but I live with flatmates, what should I do? It is much better if these questions are talked about and discussed rather than leave people to their own devices and random dubious sources. Some of these questions have been addressed (like the schnapps) for some it is actually hard to find an articulated answer (like the garbage). The best way to make sure that people make the best decisions while feeling supported is that if you set up a voluntary network of communication of the people in your lab who can feed of each-other’s intelligence and expertise. This addresses two issues: first, talking about such questions can go a long way to calm people down because in addressing their fears openly they have an opportunity to control them; second, in a collective intelligence setting these individuals will actually come up with a better solution. Encourage your lab members to reach out to other students and postdocs that may have better scientific expertise. Such cross talk is also likely to be healthy for the same reasons. Please make sure that in such communications people are relaxed, calm, rationally address their issues and try to maintain a healthy state of humour and support for each other. Make them understand that right now everyone needs to be as supportive as possible. Make sure you are as knowledgeable and rational as you can be under the circumstance, or know the sources and colleagues where you can get reliable information. We are all trained scientists, make sure that our advice is cautious, based on the best available science and is designed to support and educate.

Tools and practices to create a supportive online social network

As part of the routine it is a good practice to create a general video daily chat where anyone can connect to see each other. In our lab I have set up a daily coffee hour in the morning on our meet.ist.ac.at system (jitsi.org). Everyone joins at a specific time, which gives people plenty of opportunities to interact, have fun, relax, share their concerns, frustrations and anxieties and may be one of your best tools to maintain high morale in the physically separated lab. Of course, such an opportunity is more important for people under quarantine and also COVID-19 positive people. In addition, I now have a daily virtual open door policy. For several hours a day I am online in a separate video chatroom (also on the meet.ist.ac.at system). I have opened up my calendar for people to make appointments in that time slot, or just to come into the chatroom if they need to talk science or about personal issues. It is also good practice to share your phone number with your lab members so that they can reach out in case they have no one else to turn to for help or want to talk in private. Make sure that you are willing to help and act if you do follow this advice.

Online messaging is another good way for people to stay connected and collectively manage their anxieties. You can create a WhatsApp group for the lab (and be a part of it, or not). In our lab we use Telegram (https://telegram.org/) that lacks video calling but has amazingly fun stickers that your PhD students will quickly master to great effect. These messaging services also have a desktop application that you can use if you want to be connected from your computer rather than your smartphone.

Finally, at some point for the people in strict quarantine some form of entertainment must be made feasible. I already mentioned exercise routines, but people in the lab chat can share suggestions for movies or books to read. Online computer games are likely to have a substantial therapeutic effect for those people who do this kind of thing, especially MMOG or other games where they can play with each other (WOW, WOT, etc). For those people that do not like video games per-se there is a good online tabletop game simulator that your lab can use to play virtual tabletop games (https://store.steampowered.com/app/286160/Tabletop_Simulator/).

Obviously, many students and researchers will also be supported by the maintenance of a culture of research. Theoreticians and bioinformaticians are more privileged in this regard and they can continue most of their research activity. Experimentalists may have just lost some of their crucial experiments if they have been suddenly quarantined and some of them may cherish the opportunity to do some research in the course of their restricted ability to go to the lab. Writing reviews with such individuals may be an excellent alternative to wet work. An important thing to keep in mind is that in these circumstances the people in your lab should be doing this work if and only if they actually want to do it. Crucially, at this moment in time the primary purpose of this research activity is to provide psychological support to your people, the outcomes of the research are now purely secondary in nature. Be flexible if your lab members need a break from doing stuff. Or they are overwhelmed with the situation and need to reflect and process, especially, in face of a real tragedy (like the death of a family member) and no longer can focus on their work. On the other hand, even in dramatic and tragic circumstances some people would actually prefer to focus on work. Make sure that everyone does what is best for them - respect their needs above the needs of your research.

5) Crucial limitations of your influence and responsibility

While we are all leaders, mentors and role models to the people in our lab, it is difficult to balance our responsibility of taking care of our students and other lab members in a work environment (which is our professional obligation) with the structured system of support that erases the lines between the personal and professional space. There are several important things to keep in mind here.

First, make sure you respect people’s personal space. Not everyone may be comfortable with what they may consider an intrusion of their boss into structuring their life even at a time of this extraordinary crisis. This may be especially true if you already have a strained relationship with someone in your lab (and may not even be aware of it). So you must walk a fine line between, on the one hand, being available and supportive, and, on the other, being intrusive and a micromanager. Everyone has their own unique leadership philosophy. Exactly how to balance these issues is a form of art where each of us has our own style. You may wish to use this opportunity to reset the type of interaction you have with your laboratory. It is natural for people to come together in the face of adversity. Use this to your advantage for the benefit of the state of mind of the people under your charge.

Second, keep in mind that your responsibility and your mandate have their definite boundaries. You cannot order your lab members to do something in their free time, even if that order is to maintain quarantine. It is not your legal responsibility, and in any way you do not really have a good way to enforce it. In times of physical separation your main tool becomes reason and conviction, keeping in mind the need to respect people’s space. As I mentioned, I believe that collective thinking can be a powerful tool for people to deal with anxieties and also to reach better decisions, for example, when to maintain the quarantine state. Furthermore, as much as it is a good trait of leadership to be supportive, you must recognize that you cannot help all of your students and postdocs in all issues. In some cases, you may actually be under legal liability if you overstep your boundaries of support. You cannot replace a trained psychiatrist to help your student. You cannot offer medical advice about various conditions. Unfortunately, you should be prepared for instances when one of your students is in dire need of medical attention but due to the crisis state a trained specialist that they need is not available or cannot be reached. I hope that no-one will be in this situation, but at the present time it is more likely than ever. So please do not be caught off guard - you can offer support and help the person find help, but unless you are a trained medical professional you cannot offer direct service or treatment recommendation.

II) What you can do to support your institute

At this critical time your leadership skills in the lab can help other parts of the institute to function.

1) Close your lab and send everyone home

Unless your laboratory is part of the skeleton crew of the institute that must absolutely be maintained at a functional level there is no reason for your lab to continue operating at this time. In fact, you are making a real crisis at the institute a more likely occurrence. It seems likely that there may be quite a few people that have been going to work during the last week who were infected. If the non-critical workers infect the critical ones, the institute may in an instance lose crucial functionality that may not be recoverable. For example, if there is no-one to take care of the mice we may lose the colonies, resulting in millions of euros of losses. Therefore, by staying open at this point you are endangering not just the health and wellbeing of employees, but also the critical infrastructure.

2) Make sure the people in your lab are OK and help coordinate

The management is under intense pressure and they cannot coordinate everything. I am sure that it would be a great weight off their shoulders if they could be sure that all of us are taking care of the people in our laboratories. Therefore, following the aforementioned advice, creating support networks and being a leader to your lab members at this critical time can alleviate substantial pressure from the people that also have to do other things.

Those of you who are close to laboratories of Tom and Michl may consider helping them setup such social support networks - I am sure that they do not have the time right now to do this themselves.

The people in the administration also need the scientists. They are likely to want a deeper understanding of the science behind the pandemic and many could use your kind word of support.

3) Make sure that you stay up to date

Events at the present moment are evolving at lightning speed. Pay attention, make sure you are aware of what is happening in the country and also with your people. You may have to be more empathetic, open and engaging with your people than you ever thought necessary or possible. You are very likely to be the leader they look up to for guidance.

III) Challenges in the near future you should prepare yourself for

The present crisis is a once-in-a-lifetime and a life-changing experience. It will take a lot of time to process this and to be able to react, adapt and function under the conditions that are coming.

At this point, it is quite clear that the pandemic is going to fundamentally change our lives for several weeks at least.

You should be prepared for things that you may never have imagined would come to pass in your lifetime. These events may stretch you to your breaking point, but the better prepared you are for such eventualities the better you may be able to cope and to help your lab members weather out the storm.

1) Anticipate that the next few days may be the hardest for the scientists

There are two reasons for that. First, the rapid pace of the events has caught many people off guard and they will need quite a bit of time to process what is happening around them and get their fear and anxieties under control. Take this time to set up the social networks, create supportive structures, make sure that people are OK, processing, accepting and staying safe and keeping their local communities safe by getting into the habit of maintaining social distance and good hygiene practices. Second, the rest of the society is going through the same process, so until the government establishes rules and regulations of how people can go shopping and maintain their social distance, etc, it is likely that things will be quite chaotic, which will add to everyone’s anxiety levels. The hope is that once these procedures are in place and people follow them, it would actually be safer to do so than at the start of the quarantine period.

2) Anticipate some degree of strain or collapse of the local health system

It is likely that overburdened doctors, overfull hospitals and life and death choices on the ground will become a reality. This has happened in China, it is happening even more drastically in Italy. There is good indication that the growth of the number of cases will lead to a similar trajectory that happened in Italy, but without the ability of the local infrastructure to create ready-made solutions like new hospitals built in a number of days. You should not be surprised when this happens and be mentally ready to help your lab members understand why this burden on the local health system has happened.

3) Anticipate as very likely that more people on campus will be diagnosed with COVID-19

We know that this is a disease that does not necessarily present itself with severe symptoms and that people can have mild symptoms for days and can still be infectious. It is very likely that the number of positive cases on campus will grow with time and that it will be one of the people in your lab. Try to think in advance about what you will do, how you will act and what you will say in this scenario. Depending on the individual involved they may need different things to be supported and you should be prepared to be compassionate, supportive and a positive influence.

4) Anticipate as likely that someone on campus will lose a loved one

The nature of a pandemic is that it is everywhere, and given the current trends it is likely to lead to a large number of deaths in Europe and other countries. With 500-600 scientists on campus, it means that the number of close relatives in a vulnerable age is on the order of 3000-4000 thousand and that a substantial fraction of them may eventually get ill and may pass. Be mentally prepared that this may happen to one of your students, and try to be prepared of what to do, say and act in this situation. As usual, be respectful, give space, but also offer support.

5) Anticipate that someone on campus will be a victim of the pandemic

Given that our campus population is young, even if we have a substantial number of positive cases, the number of casualties may be low. However, we are not yet fully certain of the true mortality rate of the virus, the variability of substrains or the mortality under a heavy burden on the health system. Furthermore, we of course have a certain number of vulnerable people, although, fortunately, most of them are not students or other young scientists. This aspect of the risk is more likely to hit either the professors or the people in administration, which will require extraordinary measures of the social network of the administrative people to deal with the aftermath. If this comes to pass in your laboratory, you will have to be prepared to offer support and condolences to the rest of your lab mates and also the friends and family of the deceased.

6) Anticipate as likely that this pandemic will profoundly change your life for the next weeks or even months

It has taken China with unprecedented measures more than two months to start to have life return to normalcy. Given that the measures taken in Austria and other European countries were much slower and are not likely to be as drastic, anticipate as likely not just a more severe peak, but also that it would take authorities longer to bring the local epidemic under control.

IV) Make sure you will take care of yourself

It is a truism, but you cannot take care of other people if you are not taking care of yourself. All of the issues that I have described above apply to you as well. Make sure that you have your own support network, make sure you are also following a routine, keeping healthy and taking all of the recommended precautions. You will be under more strain, more pressure and will have a higher level or responsibility than anyone in your lab. You will not be able to rely on your lab for support to the same degree as your lab will rely on you. Therefore, you need to be able to find that support elsewhere, either among your colleagues or your friends and family. You have to keep yourself composed, calm, panic-free and do not let your own anxieties and fears percolate into the consciousness of your lab members. For those of you with families you may find yourself stretched beyond what you think is your limit. By creating a network of support for your lab you will be creating a non-hierarchical social system that will be less dependent on your direct and immediate input.

Final thoughts

It is possible that the ongoing pandemic will be the crisis of our lifetime. How we will respond and deal with the inevitable disruptions, hardships and tragedies may define our generation. It seems certain that we are in this for the long term, there is no quick fix, wishing for this problem to go away or running away to another place or country. Our fates are now fundamentally tied to the dynamics of this disease for the next couple of months at least. Unfortunately, as leaders of research laboratories most of us have not been trained to lead people in such intense stress and adversity. And yet we must all now rise to the challenge of being effective role models, empathic leaders and wise advisers. Now is the time to find these talents and capabilities in ourselves in the hope that once this crisis is over we will be able to recuperate. In any case, what we may have to deal with is nothing in comparison with what our colleagues in the medical profession around the world have already been dealing with and will have to deal with for the foreseeable future.

Fedya

PS. I have written this on March 13 to help my colleagues at IST, Austria to prepare for the coming days of the pandemic. However, in retrospect I am thinking that this “manual” may be of use to my friends and colleagues working at other institutions. Therefore, as per request of the IST, Austria management, I add the disclaimer that the content of this document reflect my own personal views as private citizen, have not been written in any official capacity of performing my professional duties at IST, Austria and is not intended to be seen as an official position of IST, Austria in any way.