Being a professor and researcher during the COVID-19 pandemic

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 and the need to follow health protocols based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, most teachers and researchers started conducting teaching and research activities at their “home office”. Meanwhile, these professionals began to develop their activities in an often-improvised workspace - many of them have also been caring for their children and doing household chores. We have even observed a decline in student performance with remote teaching, as class duration reduced and students lacked access to laboratories for practical classes. In our view, if the Brazilian government does not invest in improving the quality of remote education and internet access for the population amid the ongoing pandemic, an increasing number of teachers and researchers will develop irreversible health problems due to the precariousness of remote teaching and work.