AMHERST, MASS. (WHDH) – A recent graduate of UMass Amherst’s MFA program recently died after a lengthy battle with coronavirus after reportedly being denied testing for COVID-19 on two occasions.
Rana Zoe Mungin, a beloved social studies teacher at the Ascend Academy in Brooklyn who graduated from the university in 2015, died Monday from complications associated with the virus, UMass announced.
“With profound sadness, the English department writes to acknowledge the tragic passing of an important and recent alum of our MFA program, and educator in our Writing Program, Rana Zoe Mungin,” a statement on UMass Amherst’s website read. “Although only 30 years old, her work struck a deep chord with a broad swath of readers and scholars. Her candid reflections and critical perspective contributed to national conversations about institutional racism in MFA programs.”
Mungin sought treatment at Brooklyn’s Brookdale Hospital after she started exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus but an EMT dismissed them as a “panic attack,” her family told ABC News.
The writer, activist, and educator had been “clinging to life” in the hospital for more than a month before she passed away, according to the news outlet.
Mungin’s sister, Mia, had been chronicling her sister’s healthcare journey on Twitter.
On Monday, Mia tweeted, “She fought a long fight but her body was too weak.”
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 to weak. 😞😪
— mia mungin (@MiaMungin) April 27, 2020
“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,” UMass added in its statement. “An online appeal for appropriate medical treatment for 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. ”
Mungin’s “powerful” stories have appeared in several prominent publications, and she was a 2013 winner of the prestigious AWP Intro Journals prize in fiction, according to UMass.
“She pushed the needle here at UMass on conversations about institutional racism; our programs, faculty, and students owe her a debt of gratitude for having spent time here and shared her knowledge, experience, and perspective. She will be missed by this community and beyond,” UMass added.
The school that Mungin taught at was in an area of New York City that was hammered by the pandemic.
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