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Almost seven months in operation, around 89,200 throat swabs, 44,600 rapid antigen tests and roughly the same number of PCR tests - these are the numbers of the Corona Drive-in Test Center at the Dübendorf military airfield area. These impressive counts were made possible by around 170 students from the University of Zurich. Currently, 44 biomedical and biochemistry students and 79 medical students are working at the test center. The former are mainly involved in check-in and evaluation, documentation of test results and data transmission, while the medical students take throat swabs. Matthias Hofstetter (27) and Lena Helfenstein (24) are among them. They are studying human medicine in their second semester at the UZH and have been participating with enthusiasm and dedication in the test center since its beginning in November.
How did you learn about the work opportunity at the drive-in test center in Dübendorf?
Matthias: I still had a small part-time student job from my student days at ETH, but it was cancelled due to COVID 19 restrictions. When I received the email call from my anatomy professor Oliver Ullrich, informing that he was looking for students for the test center, I immediately signed up - a week later I had my introduction and my first work assignment.
Lena: I hadn't seen the email. But my sister, who is a doctoral student at MNF, made me aware of the job opportunity.
Why did you respond to this job offer in early November?
Lena: I had previously studied industrial chemistry for 3.5 years and started medical school in September. Because of the COVID-19 situation, all lectures took place virtually. So I was at home in front of the computer all the time and already started to feel a bit lonely. Thanks to the work at the test center, I get out and can do something meaningful for society. Here I also met other medical students like Matthias.
Matthias: I live in a four-person shared apartment. Two of my roommates were sick with Corona. I accompanied one of them to the hospital as an emergency during the night because he was suffering severely from shortness of breath. I was in quarantine when I received Prof. Ullrich's email and was very happy to be able to do something against this cursed pandemic.
How did your environment react to your work at a COVID-19 test center?
Matthias: My father was mainly interested in whether we were sufficiently protected. We are - no one from the test center has been infected. As employees of the test center, we were able to get vaccinated from the beginning of March.
Lena: It was exactly the same for me. My father was sceptical at first and thought my involvement was dangerous. In the meantime, however, everyone in my family has gotten used to it and thinks it's cool what I'm doing. I am now vaccinated as well.
How did your "patients" react to you and your work in November?
Lena: Some thought we were heroes because we are doing this job. Others were just grateful.
Matthias: Most of them are very nice and relieved once the swab is done. There are also people who want to talk with us about the virus. But those are rare.
What did you learn during your work at the test center that might be useful for your future profession?
Matthias: I have learned that in particular the first contact must be used to build up a relationship of trust between the test person and myself. Communication skills are enormously important.
Lena: We exchange information with each other via a Whatsapp group and thus continuously improve our processes in agreement with the medical direction at Balgrist. I think it's great that such a bottom-up approach is possible and that we students are taken seriously.
Drive-in Test Center Dübendorf: From zero to one hundred in seven days
The test center was literally built from scratch within a week last November on the initiative of Kurt Waldmeier of the Dübendorf Air Force Center and Rita Fuhrer, former government councilor and Balgrist board of directors member, together with Balgrist University Hospital and Professor Oliver Ullrich of the UZH Space Hub. Overall responsibility lies with Thomas Huggler, who is operational hospital director of Balgrist University Hospital, while the non-medical infrastructure and traffic management is provided by the Airforce Center.
Dr. Liliana Layer from Oliver Ullrich's team is responsible for personnel recruitment, mission planning and administration. Molecular biologist Dr. Cora Thiel from Ullrich's group is responsible for the set-up and overall management of the rapid antigen test evaluation laboratory. The conversion of an aircraft hangar into a functioning and reliably operating evaluation laboratory with standardized processes within just a few days was possible thanks to the expertise of the UZH Space Hub team in setting up field laboratories for space missions. Such missions require a high degree of planning, flexibility and resilience from all involved persons - qualities that are also useful in operating a COVID-19 test center, especially when mass or burst tests have to be conducted on short notice, as was the case in January.
