The Biden administrations COVID blunders are no doubt to blame for some of the nations deaths. Since August 10, when the first schools opened, there have been 1,235 confirmed classroom closings and quarantines across the state. (The other is Georgia.). 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. 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. Cases of the coronavirus have spiked in Florida in recent weeks, spurred on by the highly contagious delta variant. Sonia Diaz, a spokesperson. 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. Coronavirus cases in San Antonio were relatively low at the time, and teachers had been assured that schools would go fully online again if infections got out of hand, she said. So long as America remains locked in a poisonous partisan battle in which science is wrongly dismissed as being associated with the left, the death toll will only rise. The. Fourteen of the 40 deaths have occurred since January 1, 2021. Widely known football player and Jacksonville coach Wagner Linzel Lin Shell Jr., 39, died July 30. 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. Between Aug. 6 and Aug. 12 state officials recorded 151,415 new cases of the virus, 14,675 of which were in Broward County. 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. One teacher, 67, and her school cafeteria manager daughter, 43, died at the same hospital just days apart. 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. Still, the loss to the profession, said Maxwell, is noteworthy. The U.S. reported almost 4.22 million new coronavirus cases in August alone, making it the. As Republican-led states pushed back on lockdowns, the impact on population death rates was observed within weeks, Woolf said. Florida officials reported 150,118 coronavirus infections from Aug.13-19. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, COVID-19 is the leading cause of death for law enforcement in 2021. 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. 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. 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. One school district in Florida has reported 17 employee deaths from COVID-19 since August as schools continue to battle the state and Gov. 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. Fact Check: Did Florida Gov. Vasquez said she recognizes the difficult choices that school officials have to make. Catherine Shuman, 38, died Aug. 11 after a battle with COVID-19 according to her family. 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.". 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. "He's just pushing his political agenda to cater to the same constituents that were pro-Donald Trump," Fusco said of the governor. Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco said the start of the new school year has been a mix of emotions as the first day approaches. On top of that, teachers have experienced burnout over the last year when combining the stress of the pandemic, teaching both online and in-person classes and an increasing workload. Theres pressure from state leaders, too. Nationally, there were more than 750,000 new Covid infections in children from Aug. 5 to Sept. 2, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. 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? Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Polk County Public Schools say a dozen employees have died from the coronavirus since school began on Aug. 10, according to multiple outlets. She loved going to church and spending time with her five sons, 11 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Published The two married teachers in Grand Prairie, Texas, who died holding hands. The list includes support staff and retirees as well as teachers. 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. Jody Hull Jr., 49, a native of St. Augustine, Florida, died from COVID-19 on Aug. 21 after a weekslong battle with the virus. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. O'FALLON, Mo. But the date parameters used in their report January 2nd 2021 to July 2nd 2021- include a huge swathe of deaths that were suffered during the second alleged wave of Covid-19 in January 2021, when barely anybody was vaccinated. By Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. - Tampa. Cases of COVID-19, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant, have spread quickly through schools. At least 103 police officers have died this . The childhood fatalities have left pediatric experts deeply concerned about how the virus will affect youngsters in the months ahead as children interact in classrooms, even as the overall number of infections and hospitalizations in the state appears to be cresting. A student arrives for the first day of classes on Aug. 23 at a public school in Miami Lakes, Fla. 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. She was like her grandmother. In Florida, teacher vacancies this year increased by more than 67% compared with August 2020, . AshLee DeMarinis, 34, who taught special education at a middle school in Potosi, Missouri, died Sunday after three weeks on a ventilator; she had expressed fear about in-person teaching amid. Then the notices about Covid-19 cases at the school started coming in, including two in his own classroom. Teacher Elizabeth DeSantis, wearing a mask and face shield, helps a first grader during reading class at Stark Elementary School in September 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut. Still, some officials and parents are pushing for a quicker return to in-person classes. Reuters Fact Check. hide caption. 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. 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. hide caption. Shirley Duggan (Brantley County School District). But that estimate has changedand even likely grownover time. Over the course of one week, Broward County three educators two teachers and one teaching assistant are reported to. 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. 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. Experts say that education programs -- long devalued on and off many . 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. Shell played college football at Jacksonville University and spent several years in the Canadian Football League. And then the deaths that were reported.". Were all worried because were not sure whats going to happen in the future.. 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. But eligibility does not equal availability, and it could be a while before many of those educators get a shot. Based on Public Health Scotland data seen in the following chart it would seem the top pre-existing condition of those whove died with a positive test result for Covid-19 has been dementia, followed by heart disease and chronic respiratory disease. In Florida, 53 officers have died from COVID-19. The deaths come just days before Broward County schools are . The GOP governor has built a national reputation for resisting coronavirus restrictions and has spent weeks fighting against school districts that want to require students to wear masks in schools. In September, a local teachers association in central Texas filed a grievance with their district over what they referred to as unsafe conditions. William Billy Poyner, 46, died July 26 after a valiant battle with COVID-19, his obituary said. Once an assistant coach at Andrew Jackson High School, Shell taught physical education and coached football, girls weightlifting and girls flag football at Jean Ribault High School. They chose to analyze data from Florida and Ohio from before and after vaccines were available. all COVID-vaccine mandates illegal in their state, vaccine uptake accounted for 10 percent of the total. She had been a school bus driver in Brantley County for nearly 20 years. Following her passing, Hollis husband shared the following post on Facebook: We are heartbroken. That same month, a Georgia teacher sued state leaders and local school officials for allegedly putting students, staff and families at risk. A week before school began, three elementary school educators died of COVID-19 complications. Why are we so insignificant?. We are very happy to see that pediatric hospitalizations are not, in fact, increasing, Pushaw said. Obviously, nothing about being a Republican makes someone inherently anti-vaccine. A likely explanation, the authors write, could be that in the post-vaccine era, those leaders chose policies and conveyed public-health messages that made their constituents more likely to die. These include teachers, maintenance workers, bus drivers, office assistants, custodians, and sports coaches. Ron DeSantis (R) and Broward County's school board, which has opted to defy the. Terrazas, who lives with his mother, grandparents and sisters, said he worried about putting his family members at risk. They link political party and excess-death ratethe percent increase in deaths above pre-COVID levelsamong those registered as either Democrats or Republicans, providing a more granular view. Trump disparaged vaccines while president, even after orchestrating Operation Warp Speed. More than 15 Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia teachers and staff members have died of COVID-19 since July, Action News Jax has learned. DeSantis has threatened to withhold pay from superintendents and board members who buck an executive order banning mask mandates in schools. The absolute number of Republican deaths is less important than the fact that they happened needlessly. 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. Workers in essential industries had nearly twice the death rate as those with "non-essential" positions. Florida pastor urges public to get vaccine after 6 church members die of Covid within 10 days. Two educators in the same Georgia school district died within hours from Covid-19, What is the magic number for them? Gotreaux said. Woolfs work suggests that over the decades, state policy decisions on health issues such as Medicaid, gun legislation, tobacco taxes, and, indeed, vaccines have likely had a stronger impact on state health trajectories than other factors. 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. A colleague of hers was married to one of the teachers who passed away of Covid-19. The culture around social distancing and other safety protocols seemed to ease up over time, with no one strictly enforcing the rules, he said.