The mask mandate was a violation of an order signed by Florida Gov. It is a tragedy that the Republican push against basic lifesaving science has cut lives short and continues to do so. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. According to the Florida Education Association (FEA), 40 active educators have died from COVID-19 in the state since DeSantis ordered that schools reopen on July 6, 2020. Among the 13 were. Teacher deaths from COVID-19 raise alarms as new school year begins. Across the U.S., the American Federation of Teachers lists 210 union members who have died. They were administrators and maintenance workers. More than 15 Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia teachers and staff members have died of COVID-19 since July, Action News Jax has learned. Another 11,470 people died within 21 days of having their second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 182 people died within 21 days of having their second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine whose death allegedly involved Covid-19. While I have only been here and known Mr. Rivers a short time, his passion for students and for education was immediately evident. Experts say that education programs -- long devalued on and off many . One school district in Florida has reported 17 employee deaths from COVID-19 since August as schools continue to battle the state and Gov. Nearly 3,500 sea lions in Peru have recently died of H5N1 avian influenza, five times as many as previously reported, the government announced Thursday amid growing concern about the virus. Overall, K-12 employees' general satisfaction . That said, weve had teachers, coaches, principals, and superintendents get ill on a pretty regular basis and die, Brown said. So many large districts are here in the state of Florida and weve demonstrated that we can open, we can do it safely, and we continue with in-person learning, thats a good model for the rest of the country.. Since August 10, when the first schools opened, there have been 1,235 confirmed classroom closings and quarantines across the state. She leaves behind two young children. 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.. A A MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. / NBC6 Fifteen staffers of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools District have died from COVID-19 in the past 10 days, officials said. 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. At least 378 active teachers have died from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, . 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. China's official count 0 2.5 million . 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. 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. Why are we so insignificant?. 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. The deaths were all recorded within a 24-hour span, according to union officials representing employees of the local school district. "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. How many have long covid, or ruined immune systems. But she wishes school officials cared about their teachers. 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. A student arrives for the first day of classes on Aug. 23 at a public school in Miami Lakes, Fla. 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. 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. Mobeen Rathore, Wolfsons chief of pediatric infectious disease and immunology, said more children are being admitted to intensive care units and getting intubated. 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. Some 15 million people died during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, new figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) suggest. We felt a duty and responsibility to remember and to document as best we could the teachers, the bus drivers, the principals, the key people who keep our schools operating day in and day out, Lesli Maxwell, managing editor of Education Week, told CNN. Looking at the period before the vaccines, researchers found a 1.6-percentage-point difference in excess-death rate among Republicans and Democrats, with a higher rate among Republicans. How many teachers are they going to let die before they say, OK, this is a problem?. At least 13 staff members within the Miami-Dade County public school district have died due to coronavirus since the middle of last month, a union leader said. A colleague of hers was married to one of the teachers who passed away of Covid-19. Shes wanted to be a teacher for as long as she can remember, and isnt really sure what other options exist for her. And how teachers feel about their situations and the recourse they have varies widely from district to district and region to region. 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. DeSantis announced Tuesday that Florida will be expanding its vaccinations at CVS pharmacies to more than 150 locations. Watch on. COVID cases among teachers appear to be rising. What does that mean Jessie Cortez, 43, died Aug. 31, according to the Florida Education Association (FEA). Kevin Brown, executive director of the Texas Association of School Administrators, said he understands how educators are feeling. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of yourNEWS. Schools in Florida are currently required to allow families the option to opt out of mask requirements, per DeSantis, and individual school districts have been battling the state over their right to enact such mandates in classrooms. Teacher education programs continue to suffer 'death by a thousand cuts' "The pandemic continues to severely impact our community, and many public servants including educators, healthcare staff, rescue workers and law enforcement officers are experiencing tragic losses," the district said. Carvalho told reporters, I expect the next school year to be at a different level of normalcy, it would not be the old normal, it will be the new normal. When Runcie and Carvalho describe a new normalcy regarding face-to-face learning, they mean that for the ruling class the lives of educators such as Carol Zuckerman are very much an acceptable price to be paid. She leaves behind a husband, four children and three grandchildren. COVID They were teachers and coaches. Kevin Hubbard was a longtime Duval Schools locksmith. Our entire school community is deeply saddened by this unexpected loss, and we send our condolences to his family.. How Many Florida Teachers Died Of COVID-19? 3 Broward County Educators According to the latest statistics, there have been over two million confirmed infections and 32,000 confirmed deaths from the virus in Florida. From 2001 to 2019, the death rate in Democratic counties decreased by 22 percent, according to a recent study; in Republican counties, it declined by only 11 percent. Reuters Fact Check. Three teachers in Florida's second-largest school district have died from Covid-19 within two days of each other, union officials say. Rev. Nearly 3,500 sea lions in Peru die of H5N1 bird flu - BNO News You are risking your life every day going to work, she said. The deaths come just days before Broward County schools are . 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 . The number of student and teacher infections and deaths will almost certainly continue to increase. Because thelatest datasetpublished on 21st February 2023, confirms COVID Vaccination increases a persons risk of death by up to 276%. 2023 Cox Media Group. Please hug your loved ones tight today.. But those figures may have actually been published by accident. Polk County School Board member Lynn Wilson called it "a terrible tragedy" in an interview with WESH2 News. Florida officials reported 150,118 coronavirus infections from Aug.13-19. 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. But since students at his school started returning to the classroom, the 24-year-old says hes felt unsafe. The figures contained in the report were supposed to mislead the public into believing Covid-19 vaccination was fantastic at preventing death. 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. One school district in Florida has reported 17 employee deaths from COVID-19 since August as schools continue to battle the state and Gov. Garcia. We almost feel as if we are being selfish if were saying were afraid to get sick, she said while choking up. DeSantis has threatened to withhold pay from superintendents and board members who buck an executive order banning mask mandates in schools. COVIDs high Republican death rates are not an isolated phenomenon but a continuation of this trend. Colleges and universities worldwide were forced to introduce COVID-related restrictions and to transition to mainly distance (online) teaching and learning for Academic Year 2020/2021. 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. She truly cared about our kids, especially their feelings.. "But a mask mandate? Estella Henry, 35, was a Duval County School bus monitor. The state data does not break down the number of new infections by age, though children 12 and older are eligible to receive the vaccine. appreciated. On the contrary, they are declining rapidly.. Last Friday, Carol Zuckerman, a 56-year-old teacher who taught at a school in Broward County, Florida, died while battling COVID-19. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. "It's a tremendous loss," said a school official, referring to the death of longtime teacher Abe Coleman, 55, earlier . The two were mother and. Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; [1] November 19, 1933 - January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys, an Emmy and 10 Cable ACE Awards. You can find anti-vaxxers in every corner of the country. Its certainly not a lack of empathy, Gonzalez said, of the decisions that school leaders are making. The deaths were all. Congressional districts controlled by a trifecta of Republican leadersstate governor, Senate, and Househad an 11 percent higher death rate, according to the Lancet study. Talk about teachers and pupils who wanted to wear masks & got suspended? The first grade teacher in El Paso who once went viral for teaching students to be kind. When youre responsible for the education of 5.4 million children across the state, there are sometimes going to be decisions that not everyones happy 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. Every one of these people matters and should be remembered.. One teacher, 67, and her school cafeteria manager daughter, 43, died at the same hospital just days apart. Children arrive, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, for the first day of school at Washington Elementary School in Riviera Beach, Fla. | Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo. We are very happy to see that pediatric hospitalizations are not, in fact, increasing, Pushaw said. 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. Overall, 31 workers in 100,000 died of COVID in 2020. In Florida, teacher vacancies this year increased by more than 67% compared with August 2020, . Since Monday, there have . Although we still cant say these decisions led to higher death rates, the association alone is jarring. If you know an educator from Northeast Florida or Southeast Georgia who is not listed who you want remembered, please email us at news@actionnewsjax.com. It's just a covering.". Other politicians, such as Texas Governor Greg Abbott, made all COVID-vaccine mandates illegal in their state. Although they can't show it. Those who died include teachers,. A week before school began, three elementary school educators died of COVID-19 complications. 10 myths told by COVID experts and now debunked Read it at . A teachers union confirmed on Wednesday that three of the 15 deaths were educators. She loved going to church and spending time with her five sons, 11 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Heaven gained an all-star. There are subsequent and very serious [partisan] patterns with the Delta and Omicron waves, some of which can be explained by vaccination, Bill Hanage, a co-author of the paper and an epidemiologist at Harvard, told me in an email. Breaking down the cost of vaccine hesitancy would be simple if we could draw a causal relationship between Republican leaders anti-vaccine messaging and the adoption of those ideas by Americans, and then from those ideas to deaths due to non-vaccination. Then the notices about Covid-19 cases at the school started coming in, including two in his own classroom. Following her passing, Hollis husband shared the following post on Facebook: We are heartbroken. Though cases of teachers quitting over Covid-19 concerns are rare, Gotreaux isnt alone in feeling expendable. Fusco said she is currently "torn" over talks of mandating vaccinations, although she said she may change her mind once the Food & Drug Administration fully authorizes the vaccines. More Police in Florida Have Died from COVID Than Gunfire 5 South Florida Police Officers Died From COVID-19 in One Week - Insider Florida pastor urges public to get vaccine after 6 church members die of Covid within 10 days. Teachers have lost colleagues to Covid-19 and worry about being - CNN Vasquez said she recognizes the difficult choices that school officials have to make. 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. (AP) Teachers in at least three states have died after bouts with the . At least seven of the 17 kids who have died were patients at Wolfson. Ron DeSantis, who have banned them from requiring. Ron DeSantis (R) and Broward County's school board, which has opted to defy the. 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. The U.S. reported almost 4.22 million new coronavirus cases in August alone, making it the. 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. By Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. - Tampa. 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. DeSantis administration did not answer questions about the increase in deaths. In places with strong teachers unions, educators have more power. So each Sunday, as the prospect of making it through another work week looms over her, Hare said she finds it difficult to sleep. 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. 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. On his prime-time Fox News show, Tucker Carlson has regularly questioned the safety of vaccines, inviting guests who have called for the shots to be withdrawn from the market.. Individual vaccine skepticism cannot be traced back to a single source, and even if it could, we dont know exactly who is unvaccinated and what their political affiliations are. Ron DeSantis ahead of his 2022 reelection bid. Catherine Shuman, 38, died Aug. 11 after a battle with COVID-19 according to her family. Shell played college football at Jacksonville University and spent several years in the Canadian Football League. 3 Unvaccinated Florida Teachers Died, the Media Rushed To Blame Ron Since they reopened on October 9, Broward County has had 2,279 students and 1,627 employees test positive for COVID-19. Fact check: Marjorie Taylor Greene falsely claims Biden administration CDC says roughly 4,100 people have been hospitalized or died with Covid All three taught in elementary school, and were unvaccinated, said the Broward Teachers' Union.. But by publishing those figures they accidentally revealed that 30,305 people had died within 21 days of having a Covid-19 vaccine in England between January 2nd and July 2nd 2021. 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. 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. On the scale of national registration for both parties, Wallace said, were talking about relatively small numbers and differences in deaths when you look at excess-death rates alone. 3 times as many people died from COVID in August than July - USA TODAY [2] Over his career, he hosted over 50,000 interviews. Chicagos planned return to in-person classes was pushed back a day after the school district and teachers union failed to reach an agreement. 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. Six of those teachers and staff members have died since Aug. 17, in just over 30 days. The child deaths come as Florida finally sees an easing in the surge of new infections, which ravaged the state over the summer. And the close association between Republican vaccine hesitancy and higher death rates has been documented. The total number of individuals who died after contracting Covid-19 despite vaccination is 750. Just as Florida has historically served as a testing ground for the gutting of public education, so too is it serving as a testing ground for the homicidal back-to-work and back-to-school policies of the Republicans and Democrats, who are both promoting a herd immunity policy among Florida educators, parents, students and the broader working class. There were 254,412 childhood Covid infections at the end of July, but the state added 146,604 from July 30 to Sept. 2. Florida COVID update: cases, deaths, vaccine count | Miami Herald They were administrators and maintenance workers. She was uncomfortable with the high coronavirus case numbers in the county, coupled with a lack of testing for employees and students. While most, but not all, of the children who have died in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) had an underlying health condition such as obesity or were immunocompromised, most of the patients we have treated for MIS-C were previously healthy, Gayle said in an interview. There was the third grade teacher in South Carolina who used her musical talents to make learning fun. 6 unvaccinated Florida church members die of Covid within 10 days About a third of Americansmore than a hundred million peoplehave yet to get their initial shots. Samantha Mathers is a digital reporter and content creator for Action News Jax. 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. They were administrators and maintenance workers. At least 15 teachers, staff from Jacksonville area have died of COVID Hare, who is 43, said she knows how seriously the couple took the pandemic, but it still cost her coworkers husband his life. #TrojanPride pic.twitter.com/0GKMv7yuva. Six members of a church in Florida, all of whom were unvaccinated, died of Covid-19 in less than two . The Biden administrations COVID blunders are no doubt to blame for some of the nations deaths. Did you encounter any technical issues? She was the most genuine and sweetest person that walked the Earth. The delta variant-driven COVID-19 surge made August one of the worst months of the entire pandemic. She was like her grandmother. 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. At Least 4 Teachers Have Died of COVID-19 Since Start of School Year 'The end of the beginning.' Various unions have compiled their own statistics. istock. Deputy Jody Hull (St. Johns County Sheriff's Office). "This sad statistic underscores the impact of misinformation and disinformation efforts through some vocal entities, who quite frankly profess anything but scientific reality," Carvalho said. But given how events have unfolded in her district after the death of three educators, submitting her resignation letter wont be hard. More than 82,000 cases have been reported in K-12 schools, a number that has doubled since the beginning of 2021. Cases of the coronavirus have spiked in Florida in recent weeks, spurred on by the highly contagious delta variant. 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. 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. A Florida teacher in a school district where 3 educators died in a Partisanship affected outcomes in the pandemic even before we had vaccines. A POLITICO analysis of weekly Covid-19 reports from the Florida Department of Health shows that 10 children under the age of 16 died from Covid-19 from July 30 to present as the Delta variant which is much more transmissible became the dominant strain. Theres also no evidence to suggest more teachers are dying than people in other professions. 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. The 13 employees of Miami-Dade school district have died of COVID-19. 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. Cases of COVID-19, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant, have spread quickly through schools. 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. Even with this new research, it is difficult to determine just how many people died as a result of their political views. 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. Y'all-itics: From COVID-19 hotspot to vaccine mecca: A look at what's happened in Potter County. 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. One of the most compelling studies comes from researchers at Yale, who published their findings as a working paper in November. The local CBS affiliate notes that these deaths come at a moment of heightened tension between Florida Gov. The partisan divide in COVID deaths, Hanage said, is just another example of how the partisan politics of the U.S. has poisoned the well of public health.. 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.". Still, the loss to the profession, said Maxwell, is noteworthy. When we compare individuals who are of the same age, who live in the same county in the same month of the pandemic, there are differences correlated with your political-party affiliation that emerge after vaccines are available, Jacob Wallace, an assistant professor of public health at Yale who co-authored the paper, told me. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images). About a third of Americansmore than a hundred million peoplehave. What made her life any less than any of these huge companies that are having their employees work from home? Vasquez asked. Pushaw noted an Aug. 27 White House briefing that included comments by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, who said nationwide hospitalization rates for children are on par with previous surges. Though the former school superintendent currently represents other superintendents and administrators, hes been a teacher and principal, too. That's about 2.7 . Johnson Middle School teacher Elizabeth Toro died this week of COVID-19. The fact that her husband, also an educator, is still recovering from Covid-19 doesnt help. 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. Three teachers in Broward County, Fla. died of COVID-19 within 24 hours this week, the head of the teacher's union clarified Friday. Terrazas, who lives with his mother, grandparents and sisters, said he worried about putting his family members at risk. Gotreaux, the special education teacher in Georgia, said shes been in a process of mourning ever since she decided to eventually leave her job. She had previously taught at Nease High School, working with special needs students. 17 Employees at One Florida School District Have Died From COVID Since