Teacher, 30, dies of COVID-19 after reportedly being denied testing twice

A Brooklyn social studies teacher died earlier this week from COVID-19, just weeks after being denied testing for the ravaging virus twice, according to reports.

Rana Zoe Mungin, 30, died Monday (April 27) of complications associated with COVID-19, after battling the disease for more than a month, according to a release from Mungin’s graduate school, the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The charismatic middle school teacher died after a monthlong battle with COVID-19, and friends told ABC News the virus battle started with Mungin being denied virus testing twice.

Mungin had been in dire condition for more than a month at Brooklyn’s Brookdale Hospital before she died Monday afternoon, her mother confirmed to ABC News.

Despite multiple pleas for help and exhibiting various symptoms of the virus, Mungin was not allowed to be tested for COVID-19 testing twice at the hospital, according to her family.

The outcome at the Brooklyn medical center was particularly painful because Mungin’s older sister had died at the same hospital 15 years prior of an asthma attack.

Mungin’s sister, Mia Mungin, had been chronicling the course of her illness since March. On Monday, Mia Mungin, a nurse, delivered the news that her sister did not overcome the virus.

“It is with heavy heart that I have to inform you all that my sister Rana Zoe ... has passed away today at 12:25pm due to COVID-19 complication,” Mungin tweeted  Monday.

Mungin later expounded on her Facebook page about what she thinks led to her sister’s death.

“Racism and health disparities still continues … [and] the zip code in which we live still predetermines the type of care we receive,” Mia Mungin wrote on Facebook.

Rana Zoe Mungin taught at Ascend Academy in East New York, Brooklyn, one of the many areas in New York City devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rana Mungin represents a trend in COVID-19 deaths

Mungin also represents the disproportionate number of black people affected by the virus. In early April, The Associated Press analyzed the data of COVID-19 deaths. At that time, of the victims whose demographic data was publicly shared by officials, about 42% of those who had died from COVID-19 were black. African Americans account for roughly 21% of the total population in the areas covered by the analysis.

For Mungin, a writer, activist and educator, officials at her graduate school say they hope her devastating death will open up more conversation and changes for black people and women, who often are plagued by subpar medical care.

“Rana Zoe’s battle with coronavirus unfortunately sheds light on the systems of racial, gendered, and class bias— entrenched power dynamics—that she sought to expose and change in her work...Rana Zoe received a massive outpouring of support from community members, family, and friends; but the dismissal of her symptoms is a register of the long history of economic and racial barriers to healthcare faced by Black women in this country,” read an excerpt from the UMASS Amherst tribute to Mungin.