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Return to the lab: scientists face shiftwork, masks and distancing as coronavirus lockdowns ease

As scientists around the world return to work, they’re encountering new safety rules and awkward restrictions — and sometimes writing the protocols themselves.
  1. Nidhi Subbaraman
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After her university closed in March, Jeannine Randall sat down to adapt her research plan for a pandemic. Her project to monitor tree swallows through the spring and summer with a team of three scientists would now require travelling to the nesting sites in separate vehicles, using individual work kits, staying 2 metres apart and, of course, sanitizing regularly. When she realized hand sanitizer was in short supply in shops, she made her own batch using ethanol from her lab.

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Nature 582, 15-16 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01587-z

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 03 June 2020: An earlier version of this news story erroneously stated that Peter Schiffer is vice-provost for research at Yale.

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