In the excess death study, researchers dealt only with rates of excess death, not actual death-toll numbers. But given how events have unfolded in her district after the death of three educators, submitting her resignation letter wont be hard. One of the educators that lost their life to COVID-19 was Abe Coleman, 55, a teacher for . A further 123,796 people also died 21 days or more after having the Covid-19 vaccine, but its impossible to know the exact parameters for the other deaths. 4,115 people have been hospitalized or died with Covid-19 despite being fully vaccinated. 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. How many Florida teachers died of Covid-19 this past week? Other politicians, such as Texas Governor Greg Abbott, made all COVID-vaccine mandates illegal in their state. Overall, 31 workers in 100,000 died of COVID in 2020. Of these 86.315 all died of other serious pre-existing conditions including dementia, chronic kidney disease, chronic pulmonary disease, chronic neurological disease, and . Our monetization model empowers Citizen Journalists to report the news in local and national markets. But since students at his school started returning to the classroom, the 24-year-old says hes felt unsafe. His spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, instead pointed to a statewide decrease in pediatric hospitalizations over the past two weeks. It is a tragedy that the Republican push against basic lifesaving science has cut lives short and continues to do so. 1/23. The anti-science messaging that fuels such a divide is popular with Republican leaders because it plays so well with their constituents. 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. Many students in Florida also attended schools in-person during the previous school year. China's official count 0 2.5 million . 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 state health department reports that Florida leads the nation in the number of cases of infections from COVID-19 variants that have mutated. 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. Various unions have compiled their own statistics. Ron DeSantis, who have banned them from requiring. Shell played college football at Jacksonville University and spent several years in the Canadian Football League. The right-wing media have leaned even harder into vaccine skepticism. 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. Rev. 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. Obviously, nothing about being a Republican makes someone inherently anti-vaccine. Between Aug. 6 and Aug. 12 state officials recorded 151,415 new cases of the virus, 14,675 of which were in Broward County. Workers in essential industries had nearly twice the death rate as those with "non-essential" positions. 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. 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. Nicole never met a person she didnt like; she had the most beautiful contagious smile. The board allowed for parents to have their children "opt out" of wearing a mask. 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. Dax Gonzalez, division director of governmental relations for the Texas Association of School Boards, said that local school trustees are balancing the competing needs of their communities, administrators and teachers. 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. Vaccines could have saved lives. 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. 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. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Two beloved teachers at Jacksonville's Trinity Christian Academy have died from complications due to COVID-19, a school spokesman confirmed. 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? Since they reopened on October 9, Broward County has had 2,279 students and 1,627 employees test positive for COVID-19. The U.S. reported almost 4.22 million new coronavirus cases in August alone, making it the. According to the latest statistics, there. And yet, the party that describes itself as pro-life campaigned against them. She truly cared about our kids, especially their feelings.. 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.". She will be remembered as an enthusiastic team player who made learning science fun for her students, family members said in her obituary. She leaves behind two young children. Zuckerman is far from the first Florida educator to die as a result of contracting coronavirus. 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. Reuters Fact Check. People living in Republican jurisdictions have been at a health disadvantage for more than 20 years. At first, Vasquez, who is 49, said she was willing to give the arrangement a try. 24 educators and family members have died of COVID-19 as of Monday. 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. At least 103 police officers have died this . On the contrary, they are declining rapidly.. But whats most concerning is the revelation that the number of people who died within 21 days of having a Covid-19 vaccine (30,305) in the first 6 months of 2021 was 691% / 8x greater than the number of people who allegedly died of Covid-19 within a period of 18 months (3,832). Mehring Books, the publishing arm of the Socialist Equality Party (US), is proud to announce the publication in epub format of Volume 1 of COVID, Capitalism, and Class War: A Social and Political Chronology of the Pandemic, a compilation of the World Socialist Web Site's coverage of this global crisis. He was employed with the St. Johns County Sheriffs Office, serving most recently as the Youth Resource Deputy at St. Augustine High School. Sadly, reports published by the UK Government since then, reveal that things only got worse. 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 district called each death "a devastating blow" to the community in a statement obtained by NBC News. About a third of Americansmore than a hundred million peoplehave yet to get their initial shots. 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. Theres pressure from state leaders, too. Teacher deaths from COVID-19 raise alarms as new school year begins. 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. The figures contained in the report were supposed to mislead the public into believing Covid-19 vaccination was fantastic at preventing death. 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.. Deputy Jody Hull (St. Johns County Sheriff's Office). Her sister described Harrington to Action News Jax as the kindest person shes ever known. Florida saw an overall 63 percent increase in new childhood infections in August, which is the greatest monthly increase in cases for kids since March 2020. 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. According to NBC6, 15 staff members in Miami-Dade County Public Schools died over a recent 10-day span. 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. Even with this new research, it is difficult to determine just how many people died as a result of their political views. 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 deaths were all recorded within a 24-hour span, according to union officials representing employees of the local school district. She does care about her students. Overall, K-12 employees' general satisfaction . 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. While I have only been here and known Mr. Rivers a short time, his passion for students and for education was immediately evident. Officials Weigh in on Fall Plans, Florida Reports Record Number of COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations Since Pandemic Began, 260 Employees in Georgia School District Test Positive for or Exposed to COVID-19, More Than 500,000 Children Nationwide Test Positive for COVID in Three Weeks Since Schools Reopened, Tennessee Dad's Passionate Speech About Masks in Schools Goes Viral: 'Take Care of Other People'. istock. 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. In Florida, 53 officers have died from COVID-19. However, otherwise healthy kids are now facing multisystem inflammatory syndrome about a month after they become infected by the virus. Although we still cant say these decisions led to higher death rates, the association alone is jarring. Unfortunately, some of these children will not survive, Rathore said. The dark winter is here and Americans see no end. The culture around social distancing and other safety protocols seemed to ease up over time, with no one strictly enforcing the rules, he 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. 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. 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. 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. DeSantis has threatened to withhold pay from superintendents and board members who buck an executive order banning mask mandates in schools. In states such as Texas and Georgia, theres not much teachers can do about situations in which they feel unsafe besides resigning. COVID-19 vaccine Get the latest information from the CDC. 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. Many Republicansin fact, most of themhave gotten their first two shots. The district has said board members were in compliance with a policy that allowed people to have their masks off as long as they were physically distanced. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. They were administrators and maintenance workers. 2023 Cable News Network. 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. 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. A colleague of hers was married to one of the teachers who passed away of Covid-19. Still, the loss to the profession, said Maxwell, is noteworthy. 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. Were all worried because were not sure whats going to happen in the future.. In neighboring Palm Beach County, more than 1,000 students were quarantined this week following an outbreak of the virus upon the opening of schools there. Shortly before he died, Hubbard shared that he had recently tested positive for the virus on social media. Those who died include teachers,. So once her unpaid medical leave expires, Gotreaux plans to leave her job and possibly the profession. And the close association between Republican vaccine hesitancy and higher death rates has been documented. Published The article maintained its framing with the headline, "3 Broward County, Florida, educators died within about 24 hours from Covid-19 complications," leaving out the fact that the educators did not . So each Sunday, as the prospect of making it through another work week looms over her, Hare said she finds it difficult to sleep. For more information or to donate, click here. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. 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. Three teachers in Florida's second-largest school district have died from Covid-19 within two days of each other, union officials say. 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. Congressional districts controlled by a trifecta of Republican leadersstate governor, Senate, and Househad an 11 percent higher death rate, according to the Lancet study. Receive news updates and information on the fight against the unsafe reopening of schools. "The outcome, the consequence is the death of individuals, and that's just not acceptable.". Only Texas has lost more officers to COVID-19 than Florida, with 151 of its 160 line-of-duty deaths due to the coronavirus. The absolute number of Republican deaths is less important than the fact that they happened needlessly. According to his wife, Morris died the evening of Sept. 4 at St. Vincents Medical Center Riverside in Jacksonville. Having said that, it doesnt mean were not worried sick about it,' Gwynn said during a Sept. 3 interview. 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. How many have long covid, or ruined immune systems. Kevin Hubbard was a longtime Duval Schools locksmith. He was 51 years old. The impromptu overnight event was one of three in the city, organized late at night at two University of Washington vaccine clinics and one Swedish Health Services vaccine clinic, to ensure COVID-19 vaccine doses from an area hospital did not go to waste. 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.. You can find anti-vaxxers in every corner of the country. DeSantis administration did not answer questions about the increase in deaths. She leaves behind a husband, four children and three grandchildren. Since October 5, when Miami-Dade reopened, 5,198 students and 2,084 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. Jody Hull Jr., 49, a native of St. Augustine, Florida, died from COVID-19 on Aug. 21 after a weekslong battle with the virus. Florida pastor urges public to get vaccine after 6 church members die of Covid within 10 days. But she wishes school officials cared about their teachers. 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. Terrazas knows there are no easy answers, and that parents and students are struggling too. 5. Watch on. 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. 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. One study estimated that by the fall of 2021, vaccine uptake accounted for 10 percent of the total difference between Republican and Democratic deaths. 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. About a third of Americansmore than a hundred million peoplehave. Education Sep 9, 2020 5:30 PM EST. That said, weve had teachers, coaches, principals, and superintendents get ill on a pretty regular basis and die, Brown said. During the last week of February, 3,532 new cases were reported among Florida K-12 schools. The past few months as a teacher have made her feel disposable, she said. How many teachers are they going to let die before they say, OK, this is a problem?. 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. 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. In Manatee, 206,729 people, or about 58% of residents 12 years old and older, have received at least one dose of the. And how teachers feel about their situations and the recourse they have varies widely from district to district and region to region. 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. 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. Philadelphias plan to return on February 22 could also face uncertainty if the teachers union isnt on board. Fourteen of the 40 deaths have occurred since January 1, 2021. 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. The deaths so far are enough to worry educators and school staff in some districts. But those figures may have actually been published by accident. 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. DeSantis Expands Monoclonal Antibody Treatments Amid COVID-19 Spike, Florida's Governor Says School Leaders' Salary May Be Withheld If They Require Masks, An 8th-Grader Finally Returns To School In Person, Hoping It Lasts. These include teachers, maintenance workers, bus drivers, office assistants, custodians, and sports coaches. 2 Days Into The School Year, A Florida District Asked 440 Students To Quarantine, Florida Gov.