Message for students inscribed for the Introductory CAS 2021

Dear CAS-enthusiasts,

The CAS team is working hard to make this course possible as residential course as in the years before the Covid-pandemic. For the moment all signs are positive, but we had to make significant changes to the presently announced conditions.
For all sanitary measures the CAS team has to follow the rules as defined by the government of the host state. Apart from social distancing, face-masks and regular tests onsite we also have to make previsions for the unlikely case that one of the students or a teacher gets infected during the course.

Such an incident could lead to quarantine conditions for all contact persons (so most people in the course) including the rescheduling of all return flights.

A large number of students from CERN is inscribed in this course and since more than 50% of the teachers are from CERN, we have decided to organize the course in the vicinity of Geneva ( in Chavannes de Bogis, 15 km away from Geneva).

Here in Switzerland the Covid restrictions are presently less severe than in Lithuania and in the unlikely case of an infection during the course time, the CAS team has to assume less cost overheads for quarantine and flight rescheduling (Presently in Switzerland, fully vaccinated persons are not required to quarantine after a close contact).

This decision was just taken recently and we had to adapt slightly the dates of the course due to the unavailability of the hotel at the original dates.

So in summary at the present moment the conditions to join the course will look like this:

  • Course dates: 25.9.2021 – 7.10.2021 in the Everness hotel in Chavannes de Bogis
  • Admission to the course requires to be fully vaccinated, or having recovered from an infection (less than 6 month ago)
  • “Standard sanitary mesures” during the course, the seating in the main class-room will be made such no face mask needs to be worn during the courses.
  • Daily testing of all participants using an infrared camera. People showing a high body temperature they will be isolated for a moment and a PCR test will be made.
  • Apart from the breakfast, lunch and dinner will NOT be served as a buffet, but preselected dishes will be served at the tables.
  • Some sports and wellness facilities of the hotel will not be accessible.

The “point of no return” has been fixed on the 25th of August. Until then your registration is only considered an expression of interest. After that date your registration will become a binding agreement and we will progress with the collection of inscription fees and you will need to organize your travel. In that case please make sure that you buy a reimbursable ticket!

Since the evolution of the pandemic and the related governmental instructions can change within a few weeks, even after the 25th of August we cannot be completely sure that the course will happen.

All will depend on the progress of the vaccination campaigns and the spreading of new Covid variants.

This might all sound very complicated and seems to have a negative touch, but in total I must say I am really looking forward to this course, since it will provide the opportunity to meet with you in person together with highly qualified teachers and a splendid program.

For further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards,
Hermann Schmickler – CAS director