ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

3 Florida educators died within about 24 hours from COVID-19 complications

Share

The week before classes begin, three educators in Broward County, Fla., have died within about 24 hours of each other from related complications, local education officials said.

Two teachers and a teaching assistant, all women, died from COVID-19 this week, according to a statement from Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco. .

One of the teachers and the teacher assistant, 48 and 49, were from an elementary school, the statement said. The other teacher, 48, was also from an elementary school.

Fusco previously said four employees had died of COVID-19 related complications, but she said in the corrected statement Friday afternoon that the fourth was a Broward County Public Schools graduate who had "close ties to the school district through her job."

"We grieve their losses along with their families and the school communities they left behind," the statement said.

Broward County School Board Chair Rosalind Osgood was aware of several teachers' deaths, telling CNN Friday morning: "We got information on Tuesday that was reported to us. I know of three of those teachers that passed away from COVID in Broward County."

"I was also told that they were unvaccinated," Osgood said when asked whether three of the teachers were not vaccinated.

The teachers' deaths come just days before classes start in Broward County, among the country's largest school districts, and as , driven by the Delta variant and low vaccination rates. The confluence is as a new academic year begins.

Broward County Public Schools has had 138 employees test positive for COVID-19 since August 1, according to the school system's COVID-19 dashboard, which was updated Thursday. Classes are set to begin next week, ; employees began planning on Wednesday.

The school district is using funds to incentivize staff to get vaccinated, Osgood said.

"But there are a lot of people that have still not gotten the vaccination," she said. "And it is becoming a deadly thing for them not to be vaccinated."

"You need to get vaccinated," Osgood said. "This disease will kill you or leave with you a lifelong complication that not only impacts you but also impacts your family and the people that you love and care about."

The district already had found itself in the headlines in recent weeks for steps taken on mask mandates: Earlier this week approved late last month, despite an executive order from Gov. Ron DeSantis effectively prohibiting such a requirement in school districts.

The order -- the subject of -- required the state's health and education departments to make rules giving parents, not schools, the ability to choose whether their children should wear masks.

"The eight of us on our board are adamant that we cannot have people in schools without masks," Osgood told CNN Friday, "because we are living backlash of people dying with COVID."

"You can't take a risk with peoples' lives," she said. "We feel strongly that the lives of our students and staff are invaluable, and we're not willing to play Russian roulette with their lives or take a risk of losing people because we have people in schools without masks."

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.

The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

Stay Connected