Number of teachers dying of COVID-19 sparks alarm

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The coronavirus has claimed the lives of many teachers across the US as they returned to the classrooms. 
• The American Federation of Teachers has listed a number of deaths of teachers from schools in states like Missouri and Mississippi and South Carolina.
• According to the union’s president, in-person classes can resume only if it follows the safeguards needed to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Since the new academic year started, teachers in multiple states have died from the coronavirus triggering concerns from a teacher’s union leader who said unless proper guidelines are strictly implemented in-person classes will fatally impact US schools. 

After being hospitalized for three weeks after falling ill from the coronavirus, AshLee DeMarinis, a 34-year-old special education teacher at John Evans Middle School in Potosi, Missouri, died on Sunday. 

Although in-person classes in Potosi started August 24, she had been in the school weeks earlier preparing for the year. While it’s unclear where she contracted the virus, school superintendent Alex McCaul however said contract tracing records revealed she had no close contact with any teacher, staff and students. 

A third-grade teacher in South Carolina Demetria “Demi” Bannister, 28, was reported by her school district to have died three days after testing positive with COVID-19. 

The American Federation of Teachers president, Randi Weingarten, said that for schools to reopen safely, guidelines such as mandatory face coverings and strict social distancing should be required. 

“If community spread is too high as it is in Missouri and Mississippi, if you don’t have the infrastructure of testing, and if you don’t have the safeguards that prevent the spread of viruses in the school, we believe that you cannot reopen in person,” stressed Weingarten. 

All across the United States, the virus had claimed the lives of 210 union members which included support staff, retirees and teachers, according to the American Federation of Teachers. The Department of Education in New York City also confirmed 31 teachers among 75 employees who have died after bouts with the coronavirus. 

While it’s uncertain how many teachers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since classes resumed, Mississippi alone has recorded 604 cases among school teachers and support staff. 

Meanwhile, the recent school year opening in Mississippi also brought in new fatalities. 

Nacoma James, 42, died Aug. 6 on the first week of classes. He taught at a middle school in Oxford and helped coach high school football during summer workouts. 

Lafayette County School District Superintendent Adam Pugh said James was in self-quarantine when teachers and students resumed in-person classes, adding that no new cases were connected to him during investigations. 

Another Mississippi educator, Tom Slade who was teaching history in-person when the academic year began on Aug.6, died Sunday after battling with pneumonia caused by the virus, said Principal Raina Holmes. He was also quarantining after being in contact with someone in a church who was diagnosed with coronavirus.

Source: AOL