The laboratory was silent and deserted as the lights came on for the first time in days. The familiar hum of talking and keyboard clacking was gone. Mariel Rodriguez-Bellizia, a research assistant in the lab, gathered her belongings because she knew she would not be back any time soon.
Staff and students in labs at the University of Lethbridge are adapting to drastic changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Spaces such as the neuroscience-focused Brain in Action Lab are open for now, but all research with human subjects has been halted, according to Rodriguez-Bellizia.
“That took us by surprise. All the research assistants and all the people that work in the lab. [We] were in the middle of making progress in the research,” said Rodriguez-Bellizia.
Rodriguez-Bellizia moved to Lethbridge from Mexico in 2017 to complete a master’s degree in neuroscience. Both her parents are doctors back home and she is concerned for their well-being.
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“My parents are both over 50-years-old. I am worried about them, especially since the government is not taking measurements that Canada is [taking],” she said.
One of Rodriguez-Bellizia’s lab mates is in self-solation. Lara Coelho came into contact with a friend who was exposed to a person who tested positive for COVID-19.
“I have a friend that I work out with, she thinks she came into contact with someone in Medicine Hat who had it. She got tested because she was feeling symptoms,” said Coelho, a PhD student in the Brain in Action Lab.
Coehlo said she feels normal so far. Once she completes her self-isolation, she plans to return home to Saltspring Island, where she can continue her work online.
Bellizia-Rodriguez said she hopes the crisis does not last long and she can return to her research.
“We haven’t been told any idea of when the activities can return. We are able to come to the lab and pick up the data and analyze things from home. But it does stop a lot of what we do,” she said.
The Government of Alberta is urging people to leave home only when it is necessary. Premier Jason Kenny and Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw have instructed Albertans to practice social distancing by remaining three feet away from other people to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
