We are happy to report that a limited reopening began in June for The University of Maryland Honey Bee Lab, as well as the USDA Beltsville, MD Agricultural Research Center. As we mentioned in our previous post, our physical lab spaces where we normally process all of our honey bee samples in Maryland were largely shut down during the months of April and May. During that time a lot of hard work was done to keep processing what samples we could, and preparing for how best to facilitate lab access when permission was once again granted.
New lab operations have been implemented for safety, even new shipping protocols were necessary, but the good news is inspectors are once again able to send all types of survey samples for processing. Now with operations running, we have established a new Mid-August deadline for the final 2019-2020 Survey samples. We will be sure to have reports sent back to the beekeepers ASAP.
The last 2020-2021 survey kit packages are currently being shipped out to inspectors. We would like to give a big thanks for the patience extended by these states who are ready and waiting to get sampling. States who have already received 2020-2021 survey kits are out collecting samples now. Participation for beekeepers is still possible; if you are interested, please read our promotional flyer and contact your state’s inspector.