March 27, 2020
TO: All Duke Students, Faculty and Staff
On Friday afternoon, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order for residents statewide to stay at home beginning Monday, March 30, at 5:00 pm through April 29, 2020.
The order directs people to stay at home except to visit essential businesses, to exercise outdoors or to help a family member. Specifically, the order bans gatherings of more than 10 people and directs everyone to physically stay at least six feet apart from others. Essential activities such as health care, human services such as child and elder care, and food production, among others, are excluded.
Durham, Orange and Wake counties have already issued stay-at-home orders, but the Governor’s action expands the restriction to residents of all 100 counties in the state.
As a reminder, anyone at Duke who is currently supporting critical operations should continue to report to your designated work location as scheduled. As needs evolve, there are some that may be redeployed to roles that also require you to report to campus. Individuals who are maintaining critical research laboratory functions may continue to do so provided they observe safety guidelines.
Students who are currently living in Duke residence halls must remain on campus in their assigned residence hall and assigned room as much as possible and observe the guidelines that have been circulated by Student Affairs.
Social distancing remains our best hope of limiting the impact of the outbreak and protecting our health care providers, their patients and the community. We’re in this together, which is why we need you to keep your distance.
Sincerely,
Kyle J. Cavanaugh,
Vice President for Administration and Emergency Coordinator