DETROIT – Two years ago Wednesday, lab workers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit validated their first positive PCR test for COVID-19.
The workers in the lab are rarely seen or heard from, but Local 4′s Paula Tutman has their important story.
Throughout the COVID pandemic first responders, doctors, nurses, grocery store workers and delivery people worked on the frontlines doing everything they could. Even when we weren’t sure what we were dealing with.
But there are other heroes -- who in the early days were in front of the frontline workers. Wednesday (March 16, 2022) is the second anniversary of the first positive PCR test at the microbiology lab of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Remembering the early days is difficult.
It’s the first hospital lab in Michigan to develop testing protocols that would be repeatable and reliable for a brand new virus. It meant lab technicians worked around the clock, racing the clock, looking for answers.
Medical Technologist Moroj Altaweel said in the early days members of the entire lab team were exhausted, frightened and concerned. But the team was determined to validate early PCR tests. Then it happened, early in the testing protocols, a slate of tests came back positive.
They persevered and said now, two years later, they are ready for whatever comes next.
Read: Complete Michigan COVID coverage