She does care about her students. More than 15 Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia teachers and staff members have died of COVID-19 since July, Action News Jax has learned. What made her life any less than any of these huge companies that are having their employees work from home? Vasquez asked. 1/23. 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. PCR test notorious for producing false positives, Perfect 10: Charlie Coyle leads surging Bruins past Rangers, Three-goal second period lifts Sabres over Lightning, UK Science Minister Says ChatGPT Could Play A Role In Government. PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMe to raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. Then the notices about Covid-19 cases at the school started coming in, including two in his own classroom. At least 103 police officers have died this . Though the former school superintendent currently represents other superintendents and administrators, hes been a teacher and principal, too. The district said it has ordered approximately 50,000 desk shields and expects the installation to be complete "within another month," per WESH2 News. 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. 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. Thank you for all the prayers! You're not injecting anything in your body. Those who died include teachers,. Y'all-itics: From COVID-19 hotspot to vaccine mecca: A look at what's happened in Potter County. 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. [2] Over his career, he hosted over 50,000 interviews. 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. Here are their names and stories: Korey Harrington, 47, was an ESE middle school teacher at Pine Island Academy in St. Johns County. No country has a perfect COVID-vaccination rate, even this far into the pandemic, but America's record is particularly dismal. all COVID-vaccine mandates illegal in their state, vaccine uptake accounted for 10 percent of the total. Arlington Middle Principal Shawn Platts sent a message to students and families. Rivers was a proud and devoted educator for Duval County Public Schools for over 15 years on multiple campuses as a teacher, Dean of Students, Reading Interventionist and finally as Assistant Principal, according to his obituary. Official Government reports confirming eight times more people died due to Covid-19 vaccination within six months of the vaccine rollout than had died of Covid-19 within eighteen months are extremely worrying and evidence that the Covid-19 vaccines currently on offer should have been withdrawn from public use nearly 2 years ago. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. She worked throughout the summer to ensure our students were ready for the transition to a new school and there were days we had to tell her to go home.. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Two beloved teachers at Jacksonville's Trinity Christian Academy have died from complications due to COVID-19, a school spokesman confirmed. Were it not for the health benefits, Aime Gotreaux says she would have already resigned from her job as a special education teacher in Kennesaw, Georgia. Catherine Shuman, 38, died Aug. 11 after a battle with COVID-19 according to her family. If the issue is indeed systemic, that doesnt bode well for the future. People living in Republican jurisdictions have been at a health disadvantage for more than 20 years. Our deepest condolences are going out to the family and friends of former Ribault Trojans head coach Lin Shell. When decisions are made about the lives of teachers, teachers need to be involved in those discussions, he said. The two were mother and. So once her unpaid medical leave expires, Gotreaux plans to leave her job and possibly the profession. International Committee of the Fourth International, COVID, Capitalism, and Class War: A Social and Political Chronology of the Pandemic, Sign up for the WSWS Educators Newsletter, scheme to distribute vaccines to wealthy, affluent communities, One year of the COVID-19 pandemic: A disaster caused by capitalism, School worker deaths mount in Florida as virus spreads without restraint, Florida Governor DeSantis prioritizes vaccine rollout for wealthier communities. Fourteen of the 15 states with the lowest vaccination rates voted for Donald Trump in 2020. Broward County Teachers Union President Anna Fusco issued a Many students in Florida also attended schools in-person during the previous school year. DeSantis administration did not answer questions about the increase in deaths. Our monetization model empowers Citizen Journalists to report the news in local and national markets. Biden rolls out his plan to reopen schools. I dont feel like people have compassion towards that or if they truly understand that that is what we do.. According to the latest statistics, there have been over two million confirmed infections and 32,000 confirmed deaths from the virus in Florida. Thats a statement we can confidently make based on the study and we couldnt before.. Did you encounter any technical issues? Florida officials reported 150,118 coronavirus infections from Aug.13-19. Marks wife, Sherry, was also hospitalized but recovered. 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. Still, some officials and parents are pushing for a quicker return to in-person classes. hide caption. The deaths so far are enough to worry educators and school staff in some districts. The total number of individuals who died after contracting Covid-19 despite vaccination is 750. In Florida, 53 officers have died from COVID-19. Tammy Looney, 44, died Aug. 27, according to the FEA. Education Sep 9, 2020 5:30 PM EST. You can find anti-vaxxers in every corner of the country. The deaths were all recorded within a 24-hour span, according to union officials representing employees of the local school district. But when Covid-19 cases began rising sharply around December, that didnt happen. As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Unfortunately, we dont have the data to do so. 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. 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? Shortly before he died, Hubbard shared that he had recently tested positive for the virus on social media. Each classroom is equipped with an air purifier as well. STAY UPDATED:Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories. "The outcome, the consequence is the death of individuals, and that's just not acceptable.". How many Florida teachers died of Covid-19 this past week? And then the deaths that were reported.". Gotreaux said she feels immense guilt over the decision, knowing that some people might believe that she just wanted extra time off or that she didnt care enough about her students. That said, weve had teachers, coaches, principals, and superintendents get ill on a pretty regular basis and die, Brown said. The survey, conducted in December, included responses from . He was employed with the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office, serving most recently as the Youth Resource Deputy at St. Augustine High School. The delta variant-driven COVID-19 surge made August one of the worst months of the entire pandemic. But that estimate has changedand even likely grownover time. Party leaders are unquestionably complicit in the premature deaths of their own supporters. While both say they will continue insisting on a mask mandate, they report that social distancing rules will be relaxed to allow as many students as possible to come back to classrooms. This claim is false. Trump disparaged vaccines while president, even after orchestrating Operation Warp Speed. While DeSantis has pushed Floridians to get vaccinated, he has strenuously fought against making masks mandatory, a stance that Gayle partly blamed for the increase in hospitalizations on students returning for in-person learning. During the last week of February, 3,532 new cases were reported among Florida K-12 schools. Shes wanted to be a teacher for as long as she can remember, and isnt really sure what other options exist for her. There have been a total of 10 pediatric deaths due to COVID-19 in the state. 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. 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. Cases of COVID-19, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant, have spread quickly through schools. Terrazas, who lives with his mother, grandparents and sisters, said he worried about putting his family members at risk. How many died > 30 days FRSIKTIGHET . Theres 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 increasing frequency. (The other is Georgia.). In October, more than 100 teachers in Austin stayed home on the first day of in-person classes despite the districts orders. 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. For Isabel Alvarado Vasquez, a second grade teacher in San Antonio, Texas, the loss has hit close to home. As you can see above, 14,265 people died within 21 days of having the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 4,388 people died within 21 days of having the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine whose death allegedly involved Covid-19. Since the first death attributable to COVID-19 was reported in the United States on Feb. 29, 2020, an estimated 612,973 Americans have died and as . Were all worried because were not sure whats going to happen in the future.. 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. Of these 86.315 all died of other serious pre-existing conditions including dementia, chronic kidney disease, chronic pulmonary disease, chronic neurological disease, and heart disease. 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. 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 first grade teacher in El Paso who once went viral for teaching students to be kind. She was angry that she wasnt given an option to continue working remotely, despite being the primary caregiver for a mother with lung cancer. Teaching was a very satisfying career for her., Among the digital memorial posts made by her loved ones were also statements from the parents of her students. Johnson Middle School teacher Elizabeth Toro died this week of COVID-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been over 220,000 confirmed pediatric cases of COVID-19 in Florida, and nearly 8,000 emergency room admissions. Unfortunately, this trend shows no signs of breaking. Since Monday, there have . 2023 Cox Media Group. It feels scary to go to your job and not know if you could catch this deadly virus and potentially bring it back home to family members who are already vulnerable, he said. hide caption. The Republican governors light-handed approach toward Covid-19 restrictions is rooted in the belief that residents should take health safety measures into their own hands. A recent study found that from October 2020 to February 2021, the death rate in Republican-leaning counties was up to three times higher than that of Democratic-leaning counties, likely because of differences in masking and social distancing. 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. On top of all that, theyre seeing colleagues getting sick and even dying of Covid-19 and worry they or their loved ones could be next. In an act of defiance aimed at Republican Gov. Discovery Company. To help better protect everyone at elementary schools, where most students remain ineligible to receive a COVID vaccine, the district is using federal funding to install desk shields "to help protect our K-5 elementary students, who often work in close proximity to each other," they said in an Oct. 11 post on Facebook. Sadly, reports published by the UK Government since then, reveal that things only got worse. Florida accounted for one in five infections nationwide over the summer, which stretched an already strapped nursing workforce and jammed hospitals to the point where some facilities used office boardrooms as overflow wards. Ron DeSantis, the Broward County School Board voted 8-1 Tuesday to make wearing masks in all district schools and facilities mandatory for students, staff, and visitors, member station WLRN reported. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. According to his Facebook, Hubbard was a Marine Corps vet and served as a praise and worship leader at his church. But to understand why Republicans have died at higher rates, you cant look at vaccine status alone. According to NBC6, 15 staff members in Miami-Dade County Public Schools died over a recent 10-day span. Among new persons tested, more than 21 percent were found positive for the virus. Her sister described Harrington to Action News Jax as the kindest person shes ever known. The board allowed for parents to have their children "opt out" of wearing a mask. One person had direct contact with students, he said. In the excess death study, researchers dealt only with rates of excess death, not actual death-toll numbers. Still, educators there are finding ways to make their voices heard. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Democrats are not without fault, though. Chicagos planned return to in-person classes was pushed back a day after the school district and teachers union failed to reach an agreement. The U.S. reported almost 4.22 million new coronavirus cases in August alone, making it the. 2 Days Into The School Year, A Florida District Asked 440 Students To Quarantine, Florida Gov. yourNEWS is a hyper-local social news and advertising platform. But she wishes school officials cared about their teachers. And then there are parents who fear that remote learning is causing children to fall behind or who cannot afford other child care arrangements during the day. COVID They were teachers and coaches. In fact, recent studies have concluded that in-person classes arent significantly contributing to coronavirus spread an in-depth look at two US schools released last week found that there was no evidence of student-to-teacher or teacher-to-student transmission when proper precautions were taken. Four teachers in Florida's Broward county have died from Covid-19 this week as the Delta variant of coronavirus rages in the state amid political rows over mask mandates and vaccination. The American Federation of Teachers, one of the nations largest teachers unions, estimates more than 530 of their members died of the virus last year. Shirley Duggan (Brantley County School District). 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 . William Billy Poyner, 46, died July 26 after a valiant battle with COVID-19, his obituary said. He died Aug. 9, according to his obituary. The Republican Party is unquestionably complicit in the premature deaths of many of its own supporters, a phenomenon that may be without precedent in the history of both American democracy and virology. 10:43 AM EST, Wed February 3, 2021. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, COVID-19 is the leading cause of death for law enforcement in 2021. Terrazas knows there are no easy answers, and that parents and students are struggling too. Two months after China ended "zero Covid," rough estimates suggest that between 1 and 1.5 million people died far more than the official count. She was a science and social studies teacher at Wacona Elementary in Waycross. TALLAHASSEE Florida reached another grim Covid milestone amid the Delta surge: Since August, the number of Covid-related child deaths in the state has more than doubled. The University of South Florida shocked faculty members with its recent decision to close its College of Education, which has a large undergraduate population, and retain only a graduate program. According to official NHS data which can be viewed here, 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. In Florida, teacher vacancies this year increased by more than 67% compared with August 2020, . 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. The deaths come just days before Broward County schools are . He was 51 years old. The hospitals chief of pediatric critical care, Michael Gayle, said most of those patients also suffered from underlying medical conditions such as obesity. Deputy Jody Hull (St. Johns County Sheriff's Office). We are very happy to see that pediatric hospitalizations are not, in fact, increasing, Pushaw said. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. In places with strong teachers unions, educators have more power. Last Friday, Carol Zuckerman, a 56-year-old teacher who taught at a school in Broward County, Florida, died while battling COVID-19. According to the president of United Teachers of Dade, Karla Hernandez-Mats, all of those who died were African American and unvaccinated. Other factors could explain the higher death rate in Republican-leaning placesmore poverty, less education, worse socioeconomic conditionsthough Woolf said he isnt convinced that those factors arent related to bad state health policy too. 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. 2. 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. Nicole never met a person she didnt like; she had the most beautiful contagious smile. 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. 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. In New York alone, 75 Department of Education employees died from COVID-19, including 31 teachers. They were administrators and maintenance workers. Teachers in at least five states have died from COVID-19 since the fall semester started, The Washington Post reported Thursday . Those who died include teachers, school bus drivers, a security worker and a cafeteria manager. DeSantis has threatened to withhold pay from superintendents and board members who buck an executive order banning mask mandates in schools. Though cases of teachers quitting over Covid-19 concerns are rare, Gotreaux isnt alone in feeling expendable. 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%. At least 13 employees of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools have died from complications of COVID-19 since Aug. 16, according to district officials. Partisanship affected outcomes in the pandemic even before we had vaccines. That same month, a Georgia teacher sued state leaders and local school officials for allegedly putting students, staff and families at risk. 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. She had a bit of a gypsy soul. He was well known for his success in helping children learn in every setting, and we were all very much looking forward to his leadership over our PRIDE program this year. According to data from the American Association of Pediatrics, cases in children are generally mild. One of the most compelling studies comes from researchers at Yale, who published their findings as a working paper in November. Shell played college football at Jacksonville University and spent several years in the Canadian Football League. 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. A message from the Pine Island Academy principal was sent to families, stating that Harringtons commitment to her students was never in doubt.