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Ansel Oommen
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2020-04-29Behind Closed Doors
Beyond the ERs, ORs, and ICUs, there is another region of the hospital that is directly impacted by the pandemic- the lab. As a medical technologist working in clinical microbiology, I, along with my colleagues, have been processing hundreds of patient specimens and conducting various SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests 24/7 to aid in the diagnosis of COVID-19. At one point, during the beginning of the NYC outbreak, we were processing samples from all five boroughs, Westchester, and the lower Hudson Valley. We were the first human beings to view those results as they came out of the machine and saw the patterns unfold before everyone else. It is an eerie feeling to be working in a quiet lab when you feel this immense gravity of the vast storm looming overhead- knowing that every sample you process has a story and a life behind it and that your results are the thunder that reverberates beyond your four walls and out into the world itself- echoes that strike like lightning, illuminating the thin line between life and death.