Covid-19 procedures for visiting astronomers, guests, contractors and visiting groups

UPDATED 0501.0103.2023

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY IN AUGUST 2022

• Change in the terms of the declaration of responsibility.

MARCH 2023

• Remove of obligation for Declaration of Responsibility.

REQUERIMENTS FOR ACCESSING TO ING FACILITIES

Visitors (regardless origin):  

• No specific rule is in place at ING facilities regarding Covid-19. Nevertheless, you must at all times follow ING practices related to COVID-19 as instructed by their ING contact. 

• Although ING doesn’t have specific rules regarding COVID and access to ING facilities, visitors should be prudent and avoid access to the facilities when they are ill.

• After your visit: In the event that you test positive for COVID-19 in the two weeks after you left ING, we kindly ask you to notify ING Administration, to allow us to carry out appropriate tracing. 

LINKS TO OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT POLICIES

For reference, the following two links give updated status of government rules from the Canarian and Spanish Governments, which the Isaac Newton Group follows to a large extent: 

• Health requisites for travellers, Canarian Government.
• Spain Travel Health. Spanish Government (who arrive from countries that do NOT belong to the European Union or do NOT have the status of Schengen associated countries)

COVID-19 REGULATIONS 

The Isaac Newton Group (ING) have maintained effective level of operation and development activities since late spring 2020. We maintain our focus and highest priority on the safety and well-being of staff, which can be effectively protected in the relative isolation of the observatory. We ask all prospective visiting astronomers and external contractors planning a visit to ING facilities to follow the guidelines given here (we remind visiting astronomers that it is necessary to follow the procedure described at our planning web pages, and in particular, to submit the ING bookings form in advance of the observations): 

Visitors (regardless origin):  The requirements for accessing to ING facilities are the following: 

1. In the two days preceding the visit to ING, the visitor must sign and submit to ING Administration (bookings@ing.iac.es) a declaration (English, Spanish, also linked below) that:
   
   1. They are not, to their best knowledge, infected with COVID-19, and,
   2. They have not had symptoms typical of COVID-19 (fever, cough) during the last 5 days.
2. You must come with a provision of face masks for their use while at ING premises. A certified mask is required. Therefore we strongly recommend visitors to bring surgical masks. 
3. You must at all times follow ING practices related to COVID-19 as instructed by their ING contact. 

These measures will go a long way towards preserving the safety of the observatory environment. We thank all potential visitors in advance for their patience.

Residencia services

RESIDENCIA SERVICES

Those visitors planning to use services at the ORM Residencia should additionally check Residencia COVID-19 information at: 

https://www.iac.es/en/observatorios-de-canarias/roque-de-los-muchachos-observatory/services (English)

https://www.iac.es/es/observatorios-de-canarias/observatorio-del-roque-de-los-muchachos/servicios (Spanish)

After your visit 

In the event that you test positive for COVID-19 in the two weeks after you left ING, we kindly ask you to notify ING Administration, to allow us to carry out appropriate tracing. 

Forms (Docs need to be downloaded for properly open)

Declaration of Responsibility COVID 19 (English)

Declaración Responsable COVID 19 (Español)

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY IN JUNE AUGUST 2022

• Removal of COVID-19 certification documents from the requirements for access to the telescope:
• Certificate of a complete cycle of vaccination against COVID-19.
• Certificate of a negative COVID-19 result
Certificate of recovery from COVID-19 during the last 6 monthsChange in the terms of the declaration of responsibility.