Daily US Times: Three educators in Florida’s second-largest school district have died from Covid-19 within 24 hours, teachers’ union officials say.
The educators died just days before Broward County schools are due to reopen on 18 August.
Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis has threatened to withhold pay from school leaders who require masks for pupils.
School virus protocols have become the subject of fierce debate in the United States as the Delta variant spreads acorss the country.
Anna Fusco, Broward Teachers Union President, initially said four educators had died, but later of Friday, the union clarified that only two were teachers, a third was a teaching assistant and a fourth was a graduate.
The union said they had died from coronavirus related complications.
They also said three of them were not vaccinated against Covid-19. None of them had been inside a school building recently.
The four, names were not disclosed, were said to have died between Tuesday and Wednesday in Broward County – which is just north of the Miami-Dade area.
The deaths come as students of Broward County prepare to return to classrooms next week. The district is the sixth biggest in the US, with over 272,000 pupils.
This week, the Broward school board voted to require students to mask up in schools, defying Governor Ron DeSantis’ order and his threat to withhold the salaries of leaders who do so.
Texas and Florida together account for around 40% of the total new hospital admissions nationwide – and more younger people are needing hospital care due to the virus.
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