COVID-19 : new video from Professor Stewart Cole

"Dear colleagues,

The COVID-19 epidemic is a hardship for all of us. Yet I am confident that if the measures put in place by the French Government are respected, we will win this health war. Victory depends on the responsibility and the solidarity of each one of us.

Approximately 250 people remain mobilized on campus every day to ensure the continuity of activities considered critical for the Institut Pasteur, but also to construct a scientific response to the epidemic. The public utility of the Institut Pasteur, which is one of our core missions, becomes of critical importance in these difficult times.

I would first like to express all my thanks to the support services without whom Institut Pasteur researchers would not be able to develop their projects on COVID-19. I am thinking specifically of the members of the Technical Resources and Environment department (DRTE) who continue to ensure biosafety, security, logistics and the collection of waste on campus. I am also referring to the Human Resources department (HRD) and the Occupational Health Service who remain present to support employees, as well as the Information Systems department that prevents numerous malicious acts against the Institut Pasteur and assists the employees working remotely who encounter technical difficulties. Finally, I express my thanks to the Communications and Fundraising department which provides us with information on a daily basis and manages the very large number of requests for interviews or reports.

Many research projects on COVID-19 have been initiated by Institut Pasteur researchers. Once again, I would like to thank you all: researchers,technicians working in laboratories or in technology platforms, including the staff of the animal facilities. Lastly, I would like to give a special thanks to the National Referent Center for Respiratory Viruses and the Urgent Response to Biological Threat Laboratory who have been engaged tirelessly in this fight since January.

We will be able to stem the epidemic crisis with the relentless efforts of you all.

I will continue to communicate with you on a regular basis during the epidemic. Here is my second video I recorded from home, being confined like many of you. Other videos will follow."

Professor Stewart Cole
President