A Brooklyn middle school teacher has passed away after a month-long battle with the coronavirus according to her sister. 

Thirty-year-old Rana Zoe Mungin had been denied testing and turned away from the hospital twice. Her name adds to the growing list of Black COVID-19 carriers being denied treatment until their symptoms prove fatal. 

Mungin was treated for asthma and a “bad headache” when she arrived at Brooklyn's Brookdale Hospital exhibiting signs of COVID-19. She was sent home without being tested, as Blavity previously reported. When Mungin’s state worsened and she was unable to catch her breath, her sister Mia made sure that she returned to the hospital, but in an ambulance. However, the urgency of Mungin's case was also lost on the paramedics. Mungin’s cries of “I can’t breathe” led them to believe she was having a panic attack reports The Cut. 

When Mungin arrived a second time, the hospital told her family that her lungs were clear and that she would, again, not be tested for the virus. It wasn't until her third hospital visit that she was finally intubated and separated from her family to receive treatment. 

Mia, herself a registered nurse, had been chronicling her sister's ordeal and month-long battle via Twitter. On Monday, she took to Twitter to announce that Rana had succumbed to her illness. 

“It is with heavy heart that I have to inform you all that my sister  Rana Zoe Maybe has passed away today at 12:25pm due to COVID-19 complication. She fought a long fight but her body was 'too] weak,” read the post. 

Mungin’s diagnosis and death is one example of the alarming reality of COVID-19’s disproportionate effect on Black Americans.

The Black community accounts for 30% of coronavirus cases in the U.S. despite only being approximately 13% of the population, reports ABC News.

"She died not only because of COVID-19, but because we live in a world that is racist and anti-Black," Mungin‘s friend of over a decade, Nohemi Maciel, told ABC News. "We know that Black people are dying at disproportionate rates. This cannot be left out of the conversation."

"I'm heartbroken and don't know how to live in a world without Zoe. But I'm also angry. I'm angry that her students lost a wonderful and committed teacher, because representation matters," Maciel said further.

Maciel’s commentary about inexcusable racial bias was echoed by none other than U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris.

“Rana Zoe tried to get a coronavirus test multiple times but her pain was dismissed. She later died from complications from coronavirus. This tragedy is all too common for Black folks across our nation. Confronting racial health disparities and increasing test production must be prioritized during this crisis,” read a post shared on Harris’ Facebook page. 


Former music teacher Rushia Johnson Stephens was sent home after seeking treatment at the hospital. She died from the virus after her health deteriorated in subsequent weeks. Newlyweds Latresa Rice and Albert Barber were refused coronavirus testing and sent home with a suggestion of taking lemon water and Tylenol for any coronavirus-related symptoms. Barber later passed from COVID-19, as Blavity previously reported.