Dear Getty Colleagues:

As I shared in my message of August 20, due to the ongoing prevalence of COVID-19 in Los Angeles and surrounding communities, Getty is implementing an onsite COVID-19 testing program that will be required for all staff and regular contract employees working on any of our sites. The purpose is to identify people who have been infected, as quickly as possible, so that they can self-isolate at home until it is safe for them to return to our sites.

We are now ready to implement onsite testing for all staff, scholars, interns and our regular contract staff, beginning Tuesday, September 8th.. This is an additional precaution above and beyond what we are required to do in our workplace.   

The attached documents provide significantly more detail regarding who all will be tested, how frequently, how tests will be scheduled, how your sample is collected and what happens with the results, as well as other information.  If you have questions or concerns that aren’t addressed in these materials, please feel free to contact Nancy Gibson, Cathy Pericone, or Kim Stevens.

Since late July, 19 people working on our sites have reported that they have tested positive for COVID-19, and most tragically we have lost two members of our Getty community to the disease. As directed by the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, Getty is required to provide information to the County when we have a confirmed case of COVID-19 of someone working on site. The County has a rolling period of time during which we need to do this, until such time we have no new cases. We are also required to provide contact information for the individual who tested positive, as well as anyone who was in close contact with that individual. It is our understanding that the County then does its own contact tracing, in addition to the immediate contact tracing and notification we do at Getty. 

Getty continues to make the health and safety of all of our employees a top priority.  Thank you for taking responsibility to protect yourself and others when you are not at work as well.

Steve Olsen
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer