Essential research activities are things, which if halted will have an irretrievably detrimental impact to a long-term research program or to the maintenance and care of high value research material. Essential research activities may also include those that respond to the current world health crisis. Some examples of these activities are:
- A long-term ongoing research experiment which cannot be stopped without jeopardizing the entire experiment
- Longitudinal study that is already underway that addresses an important topic relevant to human health
- Care of animals, plants, cell lines, microbial strains, freezers containing valuable research material, major pieces of equipment, and other specific items/agents that are of high research value and are extremely difficult or very expensive to replace
- Activity that maintains critical equipment in facilities and laboratories
- COVID-19 related activity that has a timeline for deployment that could address the current crisis
- Activity that has US government-mandated security and access requirements, cannot be performed remotely, and whose activity is deemed critical by the US government
- Activities specifically requested by a US Government sponsor to continue during this time