As the coronavirus outbreak roils university campuses across the world, early-career scientists are facing several dilemmas Many are worrying about the survival of cell cultures, laboratory animals, and other projects critical to their career success And some are reporting feeling unwelcome pressure to report to their laboratories—even if they don’t think it’s a good idea, given that any gathering can increase the risk of spreading the virus It’s unclear exactly how common these concerns are, but social media posts reveal numerous graduate students expressing stress and frustration at requests to come to work “Just emailed advisor to say I am not comfortable breaking self isolation to come to lab this week They emailed … saying I have to come in What do I do?” tweeted an anonymous Ph D student on 16 March who doesn’t have essential lab work scheduled “My health & safety should NOT be subject to the whims of 1 person It should NOT be this scary/hard to stand up for myself ”
Amid coronavirus shutdowns, some grad students feel pressure to report to their labs