COVID-19 – BOSTON & MIAMI NOTICES – March 13, 2020

Report of past COVID-19-exposed individual at 50 Milk Street at CIC Boston

CIC MASSACHUSETTS CLIENTS,

We shared with all of you in our general update last night, we are anticipating reports of COVID-19 cases connected to CIC in the coming weeks.  This has now come to pass.

I’m writing to let you know that we learned today from one of our clients that an individual who was last at CIC Boston 15 days ago, on February 28, 2020, just tested positive for COVID-19.  This client recollects only spending time on the 10th floor and possibly in the gym on the 5th floor, and thinks that interactions were only with the person’s team. CIC key records show an access only to the 10th floor.

According to the report from the CIC client, their team member believed they were not symptomatic until March 1 (two days after they were last at CIC).  Notably, their co-workers are not showing symptoms at this time. None of these individuals are continuing to work at 50 Milk St.

The advice we understand from the CDC is that those who might have had contact with a COVID-19 carrier should self-quarantine for 14 days at home.  At this point, more than that amount of time has passed.  If you currently have COVID-19-like symptoms, we recommend you speak with your physician, and mention this information.

With an abundance of caution, we are closing 50 Milk as of 3PM today for a deep cleaning.  We recommend that you head home or make plans for the rest of the day to work at another CIC building.

To recap, here is what CIC knows: 

• February 25-28, 2020: The client last worked from 10th floor of CIC Boston during this timeframe. They were not in the office February 26 or 27.

• March 1, 2020: The client became symptomatic on or around this date. 

• March 11, 2020: The client’s team began working from home. The team told us they had zero contact with the diagnosed individual for 14 days.

• March 13, 2020: 

  • The client was diagnosed today with COVID-19. 

  • CIC confirmed with the team leader where the individual worked and that none of their colleagues are displaying any symptoms as of today.

We appreciated the client notifying us as soon as possible with this information so we could take action. CIC is committed to continuing best practices to keep its communities safe and healthy as this public health issue continues to evolve. 

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to our COVID-19 task force at covid@cic.com,

Report of past COVID-19-exposed individual at CIC Miami

CIC MIAMI CLIENTS,

As we shared with you in our most recent general update, we were anticipating reports of COVID-19 cases connected to CIC in the coming weeks.  This has now come to pass.

I’m writing to let you know that we learned today from one of our clients that an individual who was last at CIC Miami 10 days ago, on March 3, is being presumed positive for COVID-19. 

To be completely clear, the individual has not been confirmed positive because there are no test kits at the hospital where they are located, but is being treated as presumed positive by hospital staff, our client, and us. This person accessed both the third and sixth floor common areas, and thus far, no individual who had contact with them has reported any symptoms.

With an abundance of caution, we are closing CIC Miami as of 4PM today for a deep cleaning, pursuant to the Environmental Cleaning and Disinfection Recommendations from the CDC. We recommend that you head home as soon as possible, or make alternate plans for the rest of the day. We will remain closed for this cleaning for 3-5 days, and will be in touch with you over the weekend pending a reopening date.

Should we make any further decisions about closure in response to the developing situation locally, we will also let you know as soon as possible. We appreciated the client notifying us with this information so we could take action. CIC is committed to continuing best practices to keep its communities safe and healthy as this public health issue continues to evolve. 

If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me and our COVID-19 task force at covid@cic.com.

Thank you and stay safe,

Natalia Martinez-Kalinina
General Manager/Latin America Lead

Further Updates on the Latest COVID-19 Report

CIC MIAMI CLIENTS,

We have since learned a few more clarifying details on this case. Per our conversation with the client, the individual was last in the office on March 3. After that, the person left on an international flight, but returned to Miami after feeling flu-like symptoms. Upon their return to Miami, they went to the doctor but tested negative for the flu.

Given the presence of flu-like symptoms and the negative test for the flu, despite the inability to currently test for COVID-19, the doctor advised the individual to self-quarantine under the impression that the risk profile was high for COVID-19. Since then, the individual has been in quarantine and recovering.

Given the sensitivity of this matter and with an abundance of caution, we have closed CIC Miami as of 4PM today for a deep cleaning, pursuant to the Environmental Cleaning and Disinfection Recommendations from the CDC. The cleaning will include spaces where the individual worked and met, as well as CIC common areas beyond that, but will not extend to your individual offices or laboratories.

We recommend that you head home as soon as possible, or make alternate plans for the rest of the day. We will remain closed for this cleaning for 3-5 days, and will be in touch with you over the weekend pending a reopening date.

If you are a laboratory client with essential access needs over the nest 3-5 days, please let us know via a separate email that you will be receiving shortly from Brooke Walis.

If you have any questions or have any other essential access needs, feel free to reach out to me and our COVID-19 task force at covid@cic.com.

Thank you again for your patience, flexibility, and response during this time, 

Natalia Martinez-Kalinina
General Manager/Latin America Lead

For the latest updates on COVID-19 from CIC, please click here.