Taking up to 1000 swabs a day
August 27, 2020
Chloe KOH Wern Xuan
Volunteer, Health Promotion Board
Year 3, Pharmacy
Chloe volunteered with the Health Promotion Board from June to August 2020 as a Swabbing Assistant at Community Recovery facilities.
During this time, she supported COVID-19 efforts by taking biological samples from foreign workers in dormitories and other quarantine facilities in Singapore. She also provided administrative support, including conducting triage and checking clients’ well-being.
She was deployed to different sites each day, where the swab count ranged from 50 up to 1,000 clients. She visited dormitories all over Singapore, and hotels which hosted international guests serving their Stay Home Notices.
It was physically draining, standing for hours drenched in sweat with the heat trapped beneath full protective gear. Nevertheless, she found it fulfilling to work in the frontline, knowing she played a part in national efforts to fight the coronavirus.
Chloe says, “I was glad that my work made a difference in helping to detect cases early and to prevent new clusters from this early detection.”
