Recently, a teacher at another school in Vasquezs district a woman she worked with for four years in a previous job died of complications from Covid-19. She was like her grandmother. That same month, a Georgia teacher sued state leaders and local school officials for allegedly putting students, staff and families at risk. 10:43 AM EST, Wed February 3, 2021. Theres also no evidence to suggest more teachers are dying than people in other professions. According to official NHS data which can be viewedhere, from March 2020 up to the 25th of August 2021; a period of 18 months, 90,147 Covid deaths within 28 days of a positive test have been recorded in England hospitals. His spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, instead pointed to a statewide decrease in pediatric hospitalizations over the past two weeks. Philadelphias plan to return on February 22 could also face uncertainty if the teachers union isnt on board. Less than a week before schools are set to reopen in Florida's Broward County, local union officials say three educators have died of complications from the coronavirus. The survey, conducted in December, included responses from . Education Sep 9, 2020 5:30 PM EST. She also coached the Wacona Science Olympiad team. Cases of COVID-19, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant, have spread quickly through schools. When you consider that testing was compulsory in hospitals, despite it not being written in law, and they used thePCR test notorious for producing false positives, its not hard to see how the Government managed to mix tens of thousands of people who actually died of other causes into the Covid-19 death statistics. Unfortunately, some of these children will not survive, Rathore said. It is a bruising statistic that we need to absolutely internalize," Miami-Dade school Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho told NPR's Here & Now. COVIDs high Republican death rates are not an isolated phenomenon but a continuation of this trend. Even when vaccines came around, these differences continued, Mauricio Santillana, an epidemiology expert at Northeastern University and a co-author of the study, told me. Theres pressure from state leaders, too. The death of Patrick Key, an elementary school teacher in Powder Springs, Ga., who lost a monthlong battle with Covid-19 on Christmas morning, intensified pressure to halt in-person learning in. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Zuckermans brother Charles told reporters that his sister was known for her fearless independence: She was a very active person who had a lot of friends. Our entire school community is deeply saddened by this unexpected loss, and we send our condolences to his family.. And yet, the party that describes itself as pro-life campaigned against them. Estella Henry, 35, was a Duval County School bus monitor. But he knows that the current situation is testing teacher morale. If a significant number of students elect to be in the classroom in a given district, in-person teaching staff will be needed to support them. Whats most concerning about all of this is that partisan disparities in death rates were also apparent before COVID. But she wishes school officials cared about their teachers. For Isabel Alvarado Vasquez, a second grade teacher in San Antonio, Texas, the loss has hit close to home. Y'all-itics: From COVID-19 hotspot to vaccine mecca: A look at what's happened in Potter County. One study estimated that by the fall of 2021, vaccine uptake accounted for 10 percent of the total difference between Republican and Democratic deaths. In the same time period, the political gap in death rates increased sixfold. It reads in part: She never hesitated to offer her support to anyone in need. Such numbers are of no concern to Runcie and Carvalho, who report that they are planning intensive summer school sessions to allow students to make up for the school days they missed over the past year, and they expect to open fully in the fall of 2021. The figures contained in the report were supposed to mislead the public into believing Covid-19 vaccination was fantastic at preventing death. Ron DeSantis, who have banned them from requiring masks. According to data published Friday by the Florida Department of Health, 74% of Broward County's population of 12-year-olds and older has been fully vaccinated well above the overall total for the state, which stands at 65%. Having said that, it doesnt mean were not worried sick about it,' Gwynn said during a Sept. 3 interview. A teachers union confirmed on Wednesday that three of the 15 deaths were educators. She had previously taught at Nease High School, working with special needs students. istock. She had worked as a teacher with the St. Johns County School District for the past 15 years as a pre-K teacher at Timberland Creek Elementary School in St. Augustine, according to her obituary. Receive news updates and information on the fight against the unsafe reopening of schools. If you happen to live in certain states, your chances for living a long life are going to be much higher than if youre an American living in a different state, Woolf said. The start of the new school. No country has a perfect COVID-vaccination rate, even this far into the pandemic, but Americas record is particularly dismal. Our final recorded deathon Sept. 14, 2022was teacher Jennifer Hawkins Mason, 61, who taught at Farmingville Elementary School in Ridgefield, Conn. She loved going to church and spending time with her five sons, 11 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. In Florida, 53 officers have died from COVID-19. She said kids age 12 and older are eligible for treatments such as the Covid-19 vaccine and monoclonal antibody therapy, which DeSantis has pitched for weeks. At least 15 teachers, staff from the Jacksonville area have died of COVID-19 since July. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from the CDC, WHO and local public health departments. "I think because they scream louder, [he thinks] there must be more of them than the constituents that are taking this virus really [seriously] and want to be safe and secure.". Then the notices about Covid-19 cases at the school started coming in, including two in his own classroom. China's official count 0 2.5 million . In Browns view, schools in his state have engaged in very heroic efforts to make things work, reducing class sizes, arranging food delivery for students in need and disinfecting and sanitizing buildings. There's no definitive number that records exactly how many teachers, administrators and school employees have died of Covid-19, though new reports of deaths seem to surface with. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. STAY UPDATED:Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories. Teacher unions flex their power in Covid school reopening chaos. "He's just pushing his political agenda to cater to the same constituents that were pro-Donald Trump," Fusco said of the governor. Read it at . When decisions are made about the lives of teachers, teachers need to be involved in those discussions, he said. Shirley Duggan, 77, died of COVID-19 Aug. 15, according to the Brantley County School District. About a third of Americansmore than a hundred million peoplehave. Five police officers in South Florida died from COVID-19 within one week of each other, as the Delta variant continues to tear through the state and severely strain its hospital system. A fleet of Broward County School Buses are parked in a lot on July 21, 2020, in Pembroke Pines, Fla. Three county educators have died of complications from the coronavirus. Santa Rosa County teacher Jeff . News helicopters flying over Miami have shown video footage of very long lines of cars waiting early in the morning for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) site at Miami-Dade College to be opened, and reports are emerging that many who were not eligible under current state guidelines were still able to receive shots there last week. But to understand why Republicans have died at higher rates, you cant look at vaccine status alone. Six of those teachers and staff members have died since Aug. 17, in just over 30 days. In an environment where partisanship trumps allincluding trying to save peoples livessuch messaging is both politically effective and morally abhorrent. During the last week of February, 3,532 new cases were reported among Florida K-12 schools. They were teachers and coaches. There was the third grade teacher in South Carolina who used her musical talents to make learning fun. Fusco said 48-year-old Pinewood Elementary teacher and union steward Janice Wright, 49-year-old Dillard Elementary teacher Katina Jones and 49-year-old teaching assistant Yolonda Hudson-Williams, also of Dillard Elementary, were the educators who lost their lives to COVID-19 this past week. Zuckerman is far from the first Florida educator to die as a result of contracting coronavirus. She was angry that she wasnt given an option to continue working remotely, despite being the primary caregiver for a mother with lung cancer. Over the course of one week, Broward County three educators two teachers and one teaching assistant are reported to. 4,115 people have been hospitalized or died with Covid-19 despite being fully vaccinated. Johnson Middle School teacher Elizabeth Toro died this week of COVID-19. "And then the sense of anxiety that our governor's interfering with the safety protocols and wanting to block the mask mandate because they know it's an extra layer of protection. She leaves behind two young children. The child deaths come as Florida finally sees an easing in the surge of new infections, which ravaged the state over the summer. The figure represents an anecdotal tally of the number of COVID-related deaths, United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats told CNN, as the district, the fourth-largest in . The right-wing media have leaned even harder into vaccine skepticism. So each Sunday, as the prospect of making it through another work week looms over her, Hare said she finds it difficult to sleep. But she said nothing much has changed. We know that as of April 2022, about 318,000 people had died from COVID because they were unvaccinated, according to research from Brown University. Terrazas, who lives with his mother, grandparents and sisters, said he worried about putting his family members at risk. In any case, the long-term decline of health in red states indicates that there is an ongoing problem at a high level in Republican-led places, and that something has gone awry. She falsely claimed that there were "thousands of dead voters in Georgia," though Georgia elections officials have found only four such cases in the 2020 election to date and Trump allies . Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg/Getty Images, has withheld funding from two school districts. According to his Facebook, Hubbard was a Marine Corps vet and served as a praise and worship leader at his church. Polk County School Board member Lynn Wilson called it "a terrible tragedy" in an interview with WESH2 News. Our deepest condolences are going out to the family and friends of former Ribault Trojans head coach Lin Shell. We know that unvaccinated Americans are more likely to be Republican, that Republicans in positions of power led the movement against COVID vaccination, and that hundreds of thousands of unvaccinated Americans have died preventable deaths from the disease. The data, however imperfect, demand a reckoning with the consequences of such a strategy not only during the pandemic but over the past few decades, and in the years to come. They were bus drivers and school-resource officers. Threatens to Withhold Pay of District Employees Who Mandate Kids Wear Masks in School, Georgia County Closes Third School amid Coronavirus Outbreak as 500 Students Are Quarantined, Wisconsin Parents Sue Schools After Their Children Contract COVID, New Jersey School District Suspends Vice Principal After COVID Outbreak at Elementary School, Will Children Have to Wear Masks When They Return to School? "I don't think that we should have that position of mandating it right now especially not me, the union president of 18,000 bargaining unit members," she said. The more than 46,000 people in Florida who have died from Covid-19 since the pandemic began includes over 36,000 seniors aged 65 and older. Deputy Jody Hull (St. Johns County Sheriff's Office). Tens . While new cases and deaths continue to mount, Florida school superintendents have been ruminating in the press about how they would have liked to reopen schools earlier. The district has an online portal that tracks COVID-19 cases among its employees and staff, and it is continuing to urge all of those who are eligible to get vaccinated. The U.S. reported almost 4.22 million new coronavirus cases in August alone, making it the. As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. The anti-science messaging that fuels such a divide is popular with Republican leaders because it plays so well with their constituents. But for Gotreaux her and other colleagues, it was the straw that broke the camels back.. hide caption. Carvalho said that while the district is blocked by law from requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or even asking whether they are vaccinated, he is urging people to get the shot. We are very happy to see that pediatric hospitalizations are not, in fact, increasing, Pushaw said. Though some teachers fear being back in classrooms while the virus is still raging in their communities, other leaders argue that the educational toll on students and the stress on families are more urgent concerns. 04 Mar 2023 20:04:11 But Walensky also said the parts of the country where the CDC is monitoring surges have not implemented CDC guidance on masking children and vaccines. But one of the more extensive efforts to track educator deaths from Covid-19 comes from a memorial run by the trade publication Education Week. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. Karla Hernandez-Mats, the president of the United Teacher of Dade, told NBC6 that it appears the teachers. The mask mandate was a violation of an order signed by Florida Gov. A student arrives for the first day of classes on Aug. 23 at a public school in Miami Lakes, Fla. The absolute number of Republican deaths is less important than the fact that they happened needlessly. It is a tragedy that the Republican push against basic lifesaving science has cut lives short and continues to do so. The past few months as a teacher have made her feel disposable, she said. DeSantis says Florida teachers, school staff will not be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccine . He has won praise from conservatives across the nation for his rejection of lockdowns and measures like vaccine passports, positioning DeSantis for a possible 2024 presidential run if former President Donald Trump chooses not to mount a bid. What made her life any less than any of these huge companies that are having their employees work from home? Vasquez asked. Sonia Diaz, a spokesperson. (AP) Teachers in at least three states have died after bouts with the . By Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. - Tampa. The delta variant-driven COVID-19 surge made August one of the worst months of the entire pandemic. As of February 1, the site estimates that at least 707 retired and active teachers, coaches, custodians and other staff members have died of Covid-19. The two married teachers in Grand Prairie, Texas, who died holding hands. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. Since August 23, there have been more than 3,860 cases of COVID-19 within the school district, including 433 employees, according to the district's COVID-19 dashboard. Despite the jump in deaths, the rate of kids testing positive for Covid-19 for the first time is about the same as last winter before the current Delta surge. They chose to analyze data from Florida and Ohio from before and after vaccines were available. Various unions have compiled their own statistics. Gotreaux, the special education teacher in Georgia, said shes been in a process of mourning ever since she decided to eventually leave her job. The University of California, Davis's teacher education program staved off a planned suspension due only to widespread outcry. At least six . Therefore 30,305 people died within 21 days of having the Covid-19 vaccine in England during the first 6 months of 2021. Congressional districts controlled by a trifecta of Republican leadersstate governor, Senate, and Househad an 11 percent higher death rate, according to the Lancet study. Rev. And then the deaths that were reported.". FEMA insists that they have no control over the guidelines, and that the distribution terms are dictated by DeSantis, who has been implicated in a scheme to distribute vaccines to wealthy, affluent communities. Lena Marcella Jackson, 61, died from COVID-19 July 25. Fact Check: Did Florida Gov. The syndrome can also affect individuals with mild cases. The state now has seen 17 deaths, and American Academy of Pediatrics Florida President Lisa Gwynn said many of them may have had underlying medical conditions when they became infected.. Shes wanted to be a teacher for as long as she can remember, and isnt really sure what other options exist for her. William Billy Poyner, 46, died July 26 after a valiant battle with COVID-19, his obituary said. Over 21,000 students and staff have had to quarantine. It would have also spared many children myocarditis. At least 378 active teachers have died from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, . All three worked at elementary schools and . I dont feel like people have compassion towards that or if they truly understand that that is what we do.. O'FALLON, Mo. About a third of Americansmore than a hundred million peoplehave yet to get their initial shots. Nicole never met a person she didnt like; she had the most beautiful contagious smile. This means that in-school transmission of coronavirus will continue to occur even if teachers are vaccinated, making schools significant vectors for the spread of more infectious and lethal variants of the virus throughout Florida communities. Action News Jax facebook feed(Opens a new window), Action News Jax twitter feed(Opens a new window), Action News Jax youtube feed(Opens a new window), St. Johns County middle school teacher dies of COVID-19; family says she always put students first, Deputy with the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office laid to rest, River City Science Academy mourns loss of 3rd-grade teacher, Assistant principal at Arlington Middle School dies unexpectedly, school officials say, Jacksonville high school football coach dies from COVID-19, Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories, JSO K9 escapes kennel, bites three people in Jacksonville neighborhood, To know Nancy was to love Nancy: St. Johns County woman killed in suspected DUI crash, Florida woman accused of killing terminally ill husband has been released from jail, St. Johns County Sheriffs office investigates robbery at Fresh Market in Ponte Vedra, JSO says missing child alert results in deadly drowning. He was employed with the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office, serving most recently as the Youth Resource Deputy at St. Augustine High School. And there is no mask mandate, so not all children are wearing masks, Gayle said. Including weekends and holidays, thats nearly six classroom closings on average per day. But in that delicate balancing act, she said, she feels that the concerns of teachers arent given the same consideration. That's about 2.7 . Though he said he doesn't believe a mask policy is enforceable, he does think a virtual learning option would have been helpful, "and we couldn't do that either.". The weekly number of new cases related to public and private K-12 schools over the past two months has ranged from 2,191 to 4,854. Ron DeSantis Mandate Female Athletes to Divulge Menstrual Cycle Details? How many have long covid, or ruined immune systems. #TrojanPride pic.twitter.com/0GKMv7yuva. Florida in August changed its rules for determining whether someone died of COVID-19, moving that responsibility from public medical examiners to the doctors who treated the patients. Six of those teachers and staff members have died since Aug. 17, in just over 30 days. In states such as Texas and Georgia, theres not much teachers can do about situations in which they feel unsafe besides resigning. SEATTLE, WA - JANUARY 29: People wait in line for a last-minute COVID-19 vaccine event at Seattle University after a freezer failure at a nearby hospital on January 29, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. The culture around social distancing and other safety protocols seemed to ease up over time, with no one strictly enforcing the rules, he said. Teachers in at least five states have died from COVID-19 since the fall semester started, The Washington Post reported Thursday . CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Areport published by the ONSon September 13th 2021 misled the public into believing the majority of Covid-19 deaths were occurring among the unvaccinated population. He will be missed dearly!! Though the former school superintendent currently represents other superintendents and administrators, hes been a teacher and principal, too. Because thelatest datasetpublished on 21st February 2023, confirms COVID Vaccination increases a persons risk of death by up to 276%. Students in neighbouring Orlando, Florida, have their temperatures checked Three teachers in Florida's second-largest school district have died from Covid-19 within two days of each. Miami-Dade students returned to the classroom on Aug. 23 with a requirement that they wear masks as a spike in infections and deaths has continued to plague Florida. But after months of trying to conceal the data, the Office for National Statistics published a report which contained figures on deaths by vaccination status. Every death in this pandemic matters, she added. So far, 433 Polk County school employees and 3,434 students have tested positive for COVID since the school year began, according to the district's coronavirus dashboard. may have been by accident. At least 25 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have made some or all teachers eligible for a coronavirus vaccine as of February 1, Education Week reports. Graduate students at the University of Florida who are members of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) report that their departments are sending around emails with details on such hopeful rumors, and the Graduate Assistant Union has tried to organize carpool rides for teaching assistants to drive 80 miles to Jacksonville in the hope that they can be vaccinated. Two educators in the same Georgia school district died within hours from Covid-19, What is the magic number for them? Gotreaux said. Johnny Louis/Getty Images DeSantis has withheld funding from two school districts that violated his order, but Carvalho said that Miami-Dade had not yet lost any money. You can find anti-vaxxers in every corner of the country. 12 March 2021 Last Friday, Carol Zuckerman, a 56-year-old teacher who taught at a school in Broward County, Florida, died while battling COVID-19. 2023 Cable News Network. Polk County Public Schools say a dozen employees have died from the coronavirus since school began on Aug. 10, according to multiple outlets. Taken all together, the list below paints a stunning portrait of the tragic toll the COVID-19 delta variant has taken on educators in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. At least seven of the 17 kids who have died were patients at Wolfson. Sadly, reports published by the UK Government since then, reveal that things only got worse. A week before school began, three elementary school educators died of COVID-19 complications. She will be remembered as an enthusiastic team player who made learning science fun for her students, family members said in her obituary. But, in challenging situations such as these, he said he would appreciate teachers being consulted. But by far the single group of adults most likely to be unvaccinated is Republicans: 37 percent of Republicans are still unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated, compared with 9 percent of Democrats. Catherine Shuman, 38, died Aug. 11 after a battle with COVID-19 according to her family. The fact that her husband, also an educator, is still recovering from Covid-19 doesnt help. Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie told NBC 6 in South Florida, I wouldve opened schools earlier for face-to-face instruction but thats Monday morning quarterbacking in hindsight., Along with Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, Runcie falsely claims that their reopening has been safe and successful. Our monetization model empowers Citizen Journalists to report the news in local and national markets. Still, some officials and parents are pushing for a quicker return to in-person classes. Stephanie Yocum, president of the Polk Education Associate, criticized the state's "laissez-faire" approach to the situation "as far as the mitigation strategies and being very restrictive to local government from local school boards and what we can and can't do.". What we do have is a patchwork of estimations and correlations that, taken together, paint a blurry but nevertheless grim picture of how Republican leaders spread the vaccine hesitancy that has killed so many people. Nicole Hollis was a third-grade teacher at River City Science Academy Mandarin when she died from COVID-19 Aug. 14, according to her family. The syndrome, also known as MIS-C, is an inflammation of the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Teacher Resigns After School District Removes His 'Age Inappropriate' Images of Historic Black Americans, Over 5,000 Students in Florida School District Are in Isolation or Quarantine Due to COVID, 3 Unvaccinated Teachers in Florida County Die of COVID Within 24 Hours, Children Hospitalized for COVID Hit Record High in the U.S. Kevin Brown, executive director of the Texas Association of School Administrators, said he understands how educators are feeling. In the excess death study, researchers dealt only with rates of excess death, not actual death-toll numbers. Still, the loss to the profession, said Maxwell, is noteworthy. She died on Aug. 29, according to the FEA. Meanwhile, the number of vaccines available across Florida has been limited, with some educators driving long distances chasing rumors that vaccines are available. Gotreaux said she was on the fence about it until she heard that the superintendent and some board members at a school board meeting refused a request to put on a mask in honor of one of the fallen teachers. And unions in West Virginia and New Jersey have responded to reopening plans with similar pushback. According to the latest statistics, there have been over two million confirmed infections and 32,000 confirmed deaths from the virus in Florida. The school system which is the fourth-largest district in the country will try to increase the vaccination rate among staffers by offering $275 to any employee who shows proof of vaccination.