Extra social spaces will be available to students to use for brief periods during the day next semester, Trinity announced today.
Students will have to book the spaces before using them, and their details will be logged before using the space to help with contact tracing.
Students will only be allowed to use the spaces with a “pod” of people from the same course or School.
In an email to students today, John Coman, Secretary to the College, said that the spaces would be available to students “before or after lectures and other teaching events, for example to eat lunch”.
“Students ambassadors will be present to check bookings and ensure that the areas are vacated in time for the next booking and to allow for cleaning to take place”, he added. “All of this is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students.”
College term will begin on September 28th for all students apart from first years, with freshers beginning the week after.
The government this month announced that universities and colleges will be permitted to relax the two-metre social distancing rule to one metre when in lectures or classes.
In guidelines for higher-education institutions published earlier this month, the government said that while the two-metre rule should be maintained “under all circumstances possible”, there will be instances where “teaching cannot be delivered while maintaining 2m distance between students”.
“Under such circumstances”, the guidelines said, “the distance between student seats or workstations may be reduced to (but not less than) 1m”.
Staff are advised to wear face shields, visors or other protective equipment – provided by the universities – if the social distancing rule is relaxed.
