Reopening During the Unprecedented: The Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities Community Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic Response. Part 2: Efforts to Effectively Ramp Up Core Facility Activities.

Shared research resources, also known as core facilities, serve a crucial role in supporting research, training, and other needs for their respective institutions. In response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, all but the most critical laboratory research was halted in many institutions around the world. The Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities conducted 2 surveys to understand and document institutional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic from core facility perspectives. The first survey was focused on initial pandemic response and efforts to sustainably ramp down core facility operations. The second survey, which is the subject of this study, focused on understanding the approaches taken to ramp up core facility operations after these ramp-down procedures. The survey results revealed that many cores remained active during the ramp-down, performing essential COVID-19 research, and had a more coordinated institutional response for ramping up research as a whole. The lessons gained from this survey will be indexed to serve as a resource for the core facility community to understand, plan, and mitigate risk and disruptions in the event of future disasters.

Editorial

Even amid a global pandemic, contention never ceases. Despite governmental restrictions on public assembly in countries across the globe and the societal fears of transmission, the COVID-19 pandemic has nonetheless been a period of widespread contentious action. The Black Lives Matter protests in the United States sparked a host of antiracist protests worldwide, in the United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Australia, South Korea, and elsewhere. In May, after a brief lull, the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong resumed street action. In August, thousands amassed in Minsk to oppose the result of the Belarussian presidential election, alleged by many to be fraudulent. Days later, large crowds of demonstrators gathered in Bangkok calling for reformation of the Thai monarchy and the dissolution of Prayut Chan-O-Cha's government. At the time of writing, the environmentalist group Extinction Rebellion appears poised for mass action in Westminster to call for a political response commensurate with the scale of the climate crisis to be passed into UK legislation. All this is to say that even when societies lock down, opportunities for contention most certainly remain open.