Coronavirus Emergency
Although the present situation is almost a return to the normality of pre-pandemic days, the covid epidemic is technically still active, so we want to inform prospective applicants about how this situation has affected our activities so far and our plans for the season.
First, have the confidence that we at Aditu Arkeologia have your health and safety as our paramount interest, and we would never ask you to do something dangerous or that would represent a risk to your health.
Also, we already have the experience of our 2020 to 2023 seasons, where we ran the Field School successfully. We set up a series of measures in place to make sure that we prevented any risks to the team. Hydroalcoholic gels, face masks and strict access protocols made it that our sessions ran successfully.
We hope and anticipate that during our 2024 campaign the pandemic will be over, or even if it is not fully solved before the programme's dates, the situation will be even better than in previous years where our programme was carried out effectively. For as long as the Field School and excavation can take place we will keep it active, and we will only cancel the project either mandated by the authorities or, of course, if we assess any kind of risk. Vaccination levels in the Basque Country are well over 90% of the population, one of the highest in the world, and the authorities take very seriously the fight against the disease.
Restrictions on travel have been relaxed and we believe we should think ahead with our plans and future. These paragraphs are here to help you plan in a way that this situation does not hinder your future professional and career development while at the same time you take absolutely no risk for your health.
If Aditu Arkeologia cancels the excavation for any reason, all participants will be refunded fully (fees and deposit). If a participant is seriously ill (which includes coronavirus or any other serious condition) it is our policy to also refund a participant's fees where a medical certification proving their condition is provided.
There are several things you should have into consideration:
Our policy with governmental travel advisories, such as those issued by the US, is that we refund full fees if a participant decides not to join us due to a Level 4 travel advisory strongly advising not to travel to the Basque Country. Have in mind that a travel advisory is not a law, so there is no official ban or restriction on traveling to a country even with a Level 4 travel advisory. A person should exercise judgement on where specifically in a country with an advisory the person is going, as well as the activities intended or the purpose for traveling there. So a travel adivsory has to be taken with understanding, and even if we reach the moment when there is a recommendation not to travel but the excavation is still running as we assess that there is no risk for participants, those that want to join us are welcome to do so, although we will honour a refund if someone chooses not to come due to compliance with the travel advisory.
Our activity is not exposed to crowds, as participants are not traveling to visit tourist destinations and their exposure to other people and environment outside the excavation and research is limited to personal decisions. We are a self contained team, staying together in the site in our own accommodation. A lot of the travel advice given is done to prevent exposure to large concentrations of people. The village of Roncesvalles, where we do our research, has a population of 22 inhabitants.
For as long as it is not government required, we do not demand prior analysis from participants for a clean bill of health, but obviously we expect participants to disclose if they have any medical condition that can be detrimental to the research programme. In average terms, we do not consider the coronavirus a dangerous situation for healthy young adults, as the cases for that age group have been extremely mild and inconsequential. But we would like to do our job during this year's campaign, not to get sick and have to stay at home wasting our carefully planned season. So, we expect a participant to tell us if they get infected or somehow they can represent a threat to the team.
The coronavirus is a world event, but in the Spanish Basque Country medical care is free and universal and the national health system consistently ranks in the world's top 10 (as a comparison for you to see its quality, the US medical system ranks 37 in the WHO rankings). Citizens of non-EU countries are required to bring medical insurance, but even in the absence of insurance or lack of financial resources, nobody gets denied necessary medical care and no one is left after treatment with a big medical bill for life. With the coronavirus declared a medical emergency the care is under the authority of the public medical system, so nobody should be afraid of not getting medical help if that ever happens to be needed, regardless of insurance situation.
Staff and participants have always been a close-knit group, and all participants have to rest assured that we will look for their well being and help them beyond simple obligation if the case arises. Nobody should be concerned or cancel their participation out of fear. We enjoy what we do, providing opportunities to students and professionals to improve their career, and we are proud of having done that through past crisis and personal problems that we have helped participants to overcome. We plan to continue doing this with everyone that gets involved with our projects.
Our work in an ossuary and burial ground obviously requires high personal hygiene, and the rules we have in place to work with safety, such as using work gloves, washing hands frequently with water and soap, etc. do contribute to minimise any kind of viral or bacterial disease. Our standards help us by going in the same direction as many of the recommendations given by the authorities on how to deal with the recent epidemic. Besides, as mentioned above, we have Covid specific protocols in place.
We hope this helps to give you some peace of mind and to go ahead with your plans if that is your idea. Rest assured we will come back to this issue if we consider it necessary but do contact us if you have any additional doubts or questions.
We look forward to working with you and having a great season in 2024 despite this very serious issue.
Regards and health,
Fran Valle de Tarazaga & Emma Bonthorne
Directors
First, have the confidence that we at Aditu Arkeologia have your health and safety as our paramount interest, and we would never ask you to do something dangerous or that would represent a risk to your health.
Also, we already have the experience of our 2020 to 2023 seasons, where we ran the Field School successfully. We set up a series of measures in place to make sure that we prevented any risks to the team. Hydroalcoholic gels, face masks and strict access protocols made it that our sessions ran successfully.
We hope and anticipate that during our 2024 campaign the pandemic will be over, or even if it is not fully solved before the programme's dates, the situation will be even better than in previous years where our programme was carried out effectively. For as long as the Field School and excavation can take place we will keep it active, and we will only cancel the project either mandated by the authorities or, of course, if we assess any kind of risk. Vaccination levels in the Basque Country are well over 90% of the population, one of the highest in the world, and the authorities take very seriously the fight against the disease.
Restrictions on travel have been relaxed and we believe we should think ahead with our plans and future. These paragraphs are here to help you plan in a way that this situation does not hinder your future professional and career development while at the same time you take absolutely no risk for your health.
If Aditu Arkeologia cancels the excavation for any reason, all participants will be refunded fully (fees and deposit). If a participant is seriously ill (which includes coronavirus or any other serious condition) it is our policy to also refund a participant's fees where a medical certification proving their condition is provided.
There are several things you should have into consideration:
Our policy with governmental travel advisories, such as those issued by the US, is that we refund full fees if a participant decides not to join us due to a Level 4 travel advisory strongly advising not to travel to the Basque Country. Have in mind that a travel advisory is not a law, so there is no official ban or restriction on traveling to a country even with a Level 4 travel advisory. A person should exercise judgement on where specifically in a country with an advisory the person is going, as well as the activities intended or the purpose for traveling there. So a travel adivsory has to be taken with understanding, and even if we reach the moment when there is a recommendation not to travel but the excavation is still running as we assess that there is no risk for participants, those that want to join us are welcome to do so, although we will honour a refund if someone chooses not to come due to compliance with the travel advisory.
Our activity is not exposed to crowds, as participants are not traveling to visit tourist destinations and their exposure to other people and environment outside the excavation and research is limited to personal decisions. We are a self contained team, staying together in the site in our own accommodation. A lot of the travel advice given is done to prevent exposure to large concentrations of people. The village of Roncesvalles, where we do our research, has a population of 22 inhabitants.
For as long as it is not government required, we do not demand prior analysis from participants for a clean bill of health, but obviously we expect participants to disclose if they have any medical condition that can be detrimental to the research programme. In average terms, we do not consider the coronavirus a dangerous situation for healthy young adults, as the cases for that age group have been extremely mild and inconsequential. But we would like to do our job during this year's campaign, not to get sick and have to stay at home wasting our carefully planned season. So, we expect a participant to tell us if they get infected or somehow they can represent a threat to the team.
The coronavirus is a world event, but in the Spanish Basque Country medical care is free and universal and the national health system consistently ranks in the world's top 10 (as a comparison for you to see its quality, the US medical system ranks 37 in the WHO rankings). Citizens of non-EU countries are required to bring medical insurance, but even in the absence of insurance or lack of financial resources, nobody gets denied necessary medical care and no one is left after treatment with a big medical bill for life. With the coronavirus declared a medical emergency the care is under the authority of the public medical system, so nobody should be afraid of not getting medical help if that ever happens to be needed, regardless of insurance situation.
Staff and participants have always been a close-knit group, and all participants have to rest assured that we will look for their well being and help them beyond simple obligation if the case arises. Nobody should be concerned or cancel their participation out of fear. We enjoy what we do, providing opportunities to students and professionals to improve their career, and we are proud of having done that through past crisis and personal problems that we have helped participants to overcome. We plan to continue doing this with everyone that gets involved with our projects.
Our work in an ossuary and burial ground obviously requires high personal hygiene, and the rules we have in place to work with safety, such as using work gloves, washing hands frequently with water and soap, etc. do contribute to minimise any kind of viral or bacterial disease. Our standards help us by going in the same direction as many of the recommendations given by the authorities on how to deal with the recent epidemic. Besides, as mentioned above, we have Covid specific protocols in place.
We hope this helps to give you some peace of mind and to go ahead with your plans if that is your idea. Rest assured we will come back to this issue if we consider it necessary but do contact us if you have any additional doubts or questions.
We look forward to working with you and having a great season in 2024 despite this very serious issue.
Regards and health,
Fran Valle de Tarazaga & Emma Bonthorne
Directors