*A beloved Brooklyn schoolteacher died from complications of COVID-19 after she was denied coronavirus tests on two separate occasions, her family said.
Bushwick Ascend Middle School hailed Rana “Zoe” Mungin, 30, as a “one-of-a-kind educator” who had a “transformational impact on her students and colleagues,” according to a campus statement issued Tuesday.
Mungin first went to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn on March 15 and was told that she couldn’t have a coronavirus test, according to Mia Mungin. Zoe Mungin’s condition worsened, and the family called 911 on March 19. But even after getting to Brookdale that day, she was again denied testing, according to her family. Mungin was allowed to go home — and was then rushed back to the hospital the next day, the family said.
“They intubated her in the ambulance,” said her sister, Mia Mungin. “They told us she was intubated and the sickest in the hospital and that we need to be prayerful.”
Mia Mungin, a veteran nurse, told NBC News: “It was so crazy. I got to see her on Friday. We FaceTimed, and despite everything, she looked well. But the next day we FaceTimed her, it was like a different person. She was like a deer in headlights. You could just tell. We FaceTimed on Sunday. That’s when I broke down. She was tired. You know, it is only so long the body could take a beating. The next day she was gone.”
“I just feel like the health care system failed her on so many levels,” Mungin continued. “The health care system failed us, something that I stood for for 20 years.”
Mia Mungin said she fears she’s the one who passed the virus to her sister.
“She wasn’t working, you understand? I was the only one that was getting up to go to work,” with exposure to people with the virus, Mia Mungin said. “I believe Zoe got sick from me.”
Watch below:
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
