COVID-19 – MIAMI NOTICES – March 19, 2020

Posted on March 19, 2020 Updated on March 19, 2020 Miami

Please Note: If you, a member of your team, or a visitor to your company has been presumed positive or has been diagnosed with COVID-19, and has been to a CIC location, please notify us immediately at covid@cic.com.

Closed for Normal Business

LAB CLIENTS

CIC Miami Limited Operations Mode Updates on Mail, Programming, and Parking

DEAR CIC MIAMI COMMUNITY,

Once again, we thank you for your patience and understanding as we had to continue to adapt throughout the week. Your safety and the safety of our team remain our top priorities, and your responsiveness has made all of these processes smoother than we could have hoped for. The last weeks have brought uncertainty, but also great resolve and resiliency, and I am heartened by the way members of our broader community are coming together to support each other.

On a personal note, I also want to take the opportunity to thank our CIC Miami team, who has been working around the clock — part on-site and part remote — to execute on many changes quickly and effectively. In the middle of a hectic time for all of us, I am ever inspired by their dedication to our vision and our work, and I want to extend a very public and emotive thank you to all of them.

Moving on to other pertinent topics…

As I said in my last email, the presumed case protocol was completed over the weekend, and CIC Miami reopened in Limited Operations Mode (see here) on Tuesday. Most importantly, we are expecting directives from local/state governments to close all nonessential business functions, and are preemptively prepared for this eventuality.

Here is what to expect moving forward:

STAFFING

We are scaling down to even more limited staffing onsite (1-2 people). That said, our whole team is working remotely, so please reach out to them (helpmemiami@cic.com) with any questions or needs!

MAIL

If you are able to, please pick up any existing mail that you expect to need as soon as possible.
We ask that you pause/delay any shipments that you can, and redirect important or time-sensitive items to your home.
Starting yesterday (March 18), all packages and mail are being received in the first floor Everglades room for easier access. There, you will find your regular mail folders, as well organized and labeled tables by courier (FedEx, Amazon, UPS, USPS, et al.). To be clear, the 6th floor mailroom is closed except for mailing supplies.
Your CIC Client keycard grants you access to the space.
Our regular mail processing protocol (CIC mail handling + the Packaging App Notification System) will not be operational, as we will not have staff onsite. Under these conditions, you will not be receiving notifications from us about mail and we ask that you look at the alerts you receive from the courier as your main point of notice that your package has arrived.
Temperature-sensitive packages: Under this protocol, building security will be available to sign for packages if necessary. Most importantly: Temperature-sensitive items will be accepted in Everglades and NOT the 6th floor mailroom refrigerators. As a consequence, we ask that you please coordinate your acceptance of any temperature-sensitive mail very closely and directly with your carrier.

SERVICES

Please reference this summarized guide for services and expectations for the next couple of weeks. We will be in touch regularly to update you on where things stand with us.

PROGRAMMING AND ONLINE RESOURCES

We will start sharing webinars and other resources shortly, both with our clients and the broader Miami community. This will include: a) webinars on various pertinent topics around for the implications of COVID-19 for business, b) resources for entrepreneurs/small businesses more broadly, and c) professional development opportunities. In fact, our external calendar will likely be more packed with resources than ever, so please follow us here for information: the client Portal, Slack channel, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn), and the website calendar.

On an interesting note, world-renowned psychologist (and my former college professor) Dr. Tal Ben- Shahar is holding a live webinar on “Resilience Boosters” tomorrow, March 20, at 12:00 p.m. EST to commemorate the International Day of Happiness. He is extending a complimentary invitation to all CIC Miami clients. Here is the link if you want to join.

PARKING

We have been alerted by building management that the Lindsey Hopkins Garage is closing on Friday. All parkers will have access to the building’s parking lot effective today, Thursday, March 19, on your cards. For questions, please email building management: Daniel Calvo.

We thank you again for what you add to the spirit of CIC Miami. It has always been our great joy and privilege to not just witness, but also support your triumphs and milestones; amid these uncertain weeks, we are also here to support you during a moment that feels quite different. We know our unique community and energy will carry forward, and look forward to seeing you again when everything normalizes.

You, your teams, and your loved ones are continually on our minds. We will reach out again in a few days with updates. Questions? You can email me and our COVID response team (covid@cic.com) at any time. Should you need to check for broader updates, please visit https://cic.com/covid19.

Onward and upward,

Natalia Martinez-Kalinina
General Manager/Latin America Lead

[IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ] Closed for Normal Business

DEAR CIC MIAMI COMMUNITY,

Miami-Dade County has issued an emergency order closing all non-essential retail and commercial businesses, effective Thursday, March 19, 2020. In observance of these guidelines, CIC Miami will be closed for normal business as of Friday, March 20. Moving forward, we ask that clients do not come in unless they meet the county’s definition of an “essential business.”

Please reference my email from earlier this morning for clear instructions on what to expect regarding mail (still happening, please pick up on the first floor), other services, parking, and new/virtual resources. Please read this cheat sheet very carefully to summarize where things stand.

Our staff will be primarily virtual moving forward, but we are very much available, so reach out to us with any questions or comments at helpmemiami@cic.com.

In gratitude,

Natalia Martinez-Kalinina
General Manager/Latin America Lead

Information for CIC Miami Lab Clients

DEAR CIC MIAMI LABORATORY CLIENTS,

As you have seen in my email from earlier this afternoon, Miami-Dade County has issued an emergency order closing all non-essential retail and commercial businesses, effective Thursday, March 19, 2020. In observance of these guidelines, CIC Miami will be closed for normal business as of Friday, March 20. Moving forward, we ask that clients do not come in unless they meet the county’s definition of an “essential business.”

First and foremost, please expect a more thorough communication from us in the coming days about laboratory-related activities under the current circumstances. It is our impression that most research is considered essential under county guidelines, so we will be following up with lab-specific updates on protocols, procedures, and support by early next week.

Secondly, if your company is involved in research or health/social responses pertaining to COVID-19, please let us know. We are compiling a list across all CIC sites to help share your work among our global community. Needless to say, we thank you for your efforts and wish you the best of luck.

Lastly, please reference this email and cheat sheet for an overview of operations moving forward. I want to specifically highlight the new mail procedures, since these may have different implications in your cases.

We ask that you pause/delay any shipments that you can, and redirect important, temperature-sensitive and/or time-sensitive items to your home.
All packages and mail are being received in the first floor Everglades room (next to the parking lot). There, you will find your regular mail folders, as well as organized and labeled tables by courier (FedEx, Amazon, UPS, USPS, et al.). To be clear, the 6th floor mailroom is closed except for mailing supplies.
Your CIC Client keycard grants you access to the space.
Our regular mail processing protocol (CIC mail handling + the Package Notification System) will not be operational, as we expect to not have staff onsite. Under these conditions, you will not be receiving notifications from us about mail and we ask that you look at the alerts you receive from the courier as your main point of notice that your package has arrived.
Temperature-sensitive packages: Under this protocol, building security will be availabe to sign for packages if necessary. Most importantly: Temperature-sensitive items will be accepted in Everglades but there is NO REFRIGERATION AVAILABLE. As a consequence, we ask that you please coordinate your acceptance of any temperature-sensitive mail very closely and directly with your carrier.