UMA SEHGAL: The day we had to move was very cold, cold, cold, freezing day.ДЄJAI SEHGAL: My girlfriend and I were helping them pack and move.ДЄVIR MITRA: He's, like, packing things up in boxes, you know, moving dressers.ДЄJAI SEHGAL: And I was going to pack up the freezer.ДЄVIR MITRA: And all of a sudden, his dad is like, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop right there. So.ДЄJAI SEHGAL: You know, my parents were moving.ДЄVIR MITRA: Ajai, he's a good son. Like, if you want to keep your job, you got to move to New Jersey. UMA SEHGAL: It was Ayerst, McKenna & Harrison.ДЄVIR MITRA: And out of nowhere, one day they say, we're shutting down our Montreal labs. UMA SEHGAL: Well, what happened was my husband, Suren, received a notice that he will be moving to Princeton, N.J.ДЄVIR MITRA: And she says her husband, Suren, was working for this drug company. And I go, what? Why are you moving to the United States? I got a telegram saying, Dad and I are moving to the United States. I was in Germany serving with the Canadian Forces.ДЄVIR MITRA: His family was back in Montreal.ДЄJAI SEHGAL: And one day, it was just - it was around Christmastime, actually. And the last name, you can pronounce it Sehgal, Siegel (ph), Sagal (ph).ДЄJAI SEHGAL: I remember exactly where I was. We are recording.ДЄVIR MITRA: OK, so it starts with this guy named Ajai.ДЄJAI SEHGAL: My name is Ajai Sehgal. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Recording, then (ph).ДЄJAI SEHGAL: All right.

I think it has the craziest backstory I've ever heard for a drug. But recently I was looking into one of the drugs that we see pretty often in all these different contexts in the hospital, and ever since I looked it up, I've been obsessed.

And most times, honestly, it's just whatever. So sometimes I go home, and at night, I'll look it up. It's about dirt, dueling statues and a secret molecule that stops time - might even reverse it.ДЄVIR MITRA: So, you know, a lot of times I'll be working in the ER, and, you know, we have just so many meds going into somebody, so many different drugs going through an IV, and sometimes I just step back, and I think, like, where did these come from? Like, how did this drug end up here in my hands going into this patient? It's, like, a relay race, you know, and this baton has been passed forward and forward, and I'm the last guy, and I'm putting it into the patient, but I don't really even know - like, how far back did this baton go? It's a lot less scary, a lot more fantastical.

LATIF NASSER: Today's story is not about COVID. He brought us a gripping portrait of his ER under siege. Actually, during the height of the pandemic.ДЄVIR MITRA: Tensions are high today - March 26, 2020. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Why don't I go ahead and give. Avir, after his stint as a RADIOLAB intern and then as an international rock star, became. Avir Mitra, who's one of our contributing editors. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Listener-supported WNYC Studios.

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