When our healthcare system can’t cope, medical research suffers
I work as a research technician in a microbiology lab at a university that also has a medical school and several hospitals. The hospitals are under great strain to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. We received departmental emails on behalf of the hospital system asking for the following items from our labs:
Viral swabs
Sterile surgical gloves
Bleach
Isolation Masks
N95 Masks – especially dire need for these*
Surgical Masks
Utility Masks
Safety Goggles and Glasses
Shoe covers
Bouffant caps
Isolation gowns
Wipes
Ventilators that could be repurposed
To me, this is a clear indication that our local and federal government are not doing enough to provide these hospitals with the resources they need. The microbiology department at my work is essential for coronavirus research. We have several labs that were already working on SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the disease now known as COVID-19, until that research was hindered not only due to quarantining, but also a strain on resources. For example, in my lab, we wanted to shift gears to study SARS-CoV-2 since we already are equipped with many virology tools. To do this, we need to get several members of our staff, such as myself, trained at a biosafety level 3 (BSL3) clearance. There are 4 biosafety levels, and BSL3 is a high level of biocontainment for biological agents such as SARS-CoV-2, which requires extensive training.
However, there is only one group of people training us for all the hospital and laboratory staff combined. Their priority lies with the hospital staff, so we were told it would be months before staff from our lab could receive training. Now we can’t contribute to important COVID-19 research using BSL3 techniques until we are able to be trained. Even if we’re able to get a few people trained, we’ll be further limited by how many people can be in a lab while practicing safe social distancing.
As someone who has primarily completed laboratory bench work and only has a beginner’s background in computational techniques, my remote work is limited. My boss is a top microbiologist who has been recruited to help deal with the outbreak, so he is rarely available to chat about what I could be doing for remote work. Luckily, I continue to be paid a salaried wage for what amounts to perhaps 2 hours of actual work in a day, usually less. While I am grateful for the time off, I can’t help but feel labs like mine should be part of a better-organized collective to tackle COVID-19.
What needs to change here? All the equipment that was listed above should have been prepared for our hospitals as soon as we predicted the virus would eventually reach American soil. BSL3 training should be prioritized and accessible for both hospital and laboratory staff.
There should be more funding given to hospitals and research labs to collaborate and learn from the disease at every turn. Not only does a vaccine need to be developed, but a complete profile of the virus is needed, in hopes of eventually finding a cure. My local hospitals and labs are not unique in lacking resources. Medical resources are needed all over the country, and instead our leaders are itching to break quarantine to get the economy pumping again.
We need to #flattenthecurve and continue to quarantine as long as possible with full pay and benefits for working people, or we will see a dramatic increase in cases and our healthcare system could truly reach its breaking point.
