In the laundry of the Dr.  Ernesto Guevara General Teaching Hospital, in Las Tunas, the days are incessant coming and going for the disinfection of the garments.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- There, the machines do not stop working to guarantee the sanitation of each piece. This group also stands out in the response offered in times of pandemic since the activity they undertake is vital in the largest health institution of this eastern province.

The presence of SARS-CoV-2 requires greater rigor in the classification of clothing, washing, disinfection, drying, and other processes until reaching the final destination: each service of the hospital center. This task is undertaken by two work brigades made up, each one, by 20 workers in a single work shift, and divided into the dirty and clean areas. This is how José Ángel Avilés Fuentes, head of the department, explains and points out that the clothes from the different services arrive in the first of these areas, where are washed separately in the four industrial machines for that purpose.

"The clean area is adjacent, where the drying process takes place, and then, the garments are folded to take it to its respective hospitalization unit," he adds. A fundamental and little publicly recognized work is carried out there. Every day, some three to four thousand pieces of clothing are sanitized in this place, about 900 or a thousand kilograms.

During the COVID-19 crisis, the task not only stands out for its volume but also for the complexity of the process that involves specific cleaning circuits for the clothing used by patients and health personnel.

"Clean linen must be constantly available. It is not only the patients' clothes but also those of the doctors, to whom we leave everything they need ready for a quicker change. For laundering, the linen from the infectious disease services is sanitized separately and with the appropriate products, such as chlorine, among others. Likewise, we can say that we have benefited from a new supply necessary to face the sanitary contingency we are experiencing," Avilés Fuentes said.

Yaimarelis Rosales Betancourt, head of one brigade, points out that most of the workers are women, although they have the backing of three laundrymen. To date, she says, they have not been infected with the new coronavirus.

"At 6:00 in the morning, the assistants are already in the collection of dirty clothes in the different services of the hospital. Each group of fabrics undergoes a process of disinfection, washing, drying, and folding; and then return to the room where we work until 7:45 pm; when there are breaks, the hours are extended."

Each link is necessary and fundamental for the proper functioning of any health institution. This is the case with the "Guevara" laundry, a little-noticed entity; but which could be end or beginning, depending on the perspective with which we appreciate it, of each process. Undoubtedly, it is an invaluable service that benefits everyone.