(AbsoluteNews.com) – The COVID-19 pandemic has cost more than 250,000 people in the US their lives. The virus has torn families and communities apart. Among the dead are roughly 300 teachers and other school employees.
In addition to the deaths, educators are leaving the field to pursue other careers in the wake of the pandemic. Schools all over the country are feeling the losses.
Communities Suffering
On November 15, Iowa teacher Jason Englert, 38, died three days after testing positive for the coronavirus. The same week he lost his life, a first-grade teacher at Mississippi’s Hernando Elementary School passed away from complications of COVID-19.
In April, Brooklyn social studies teacher Rana Zoe Mungin, 30, lost her life due to the virus. Last month, Arkansas teacher Susanne Michael, a woman who had recently adopted a former student and two of his siblings, died from COVID-19 complications. And the list goes on and on.
Death isn’t the only thing robbing schools of their beloved educators.
Teachers Leaving
Earlier this year, the National Education Association (NEA) conducted a poll and found 28% of teachers said they are “more likely to retire or leave the profession” because of COVID-19. According to the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association, 751 teachers quit their jobs in the state, 326 cited the coronavirus as the reason. It’s a story playing out across the country.
The good news is that the spread of the virus in schools hasn’t been particularly bad. The CDC has done a great job of educating officials and reopening classrooms. And there isn’t much evidence to prove the teachers who did lose their lives caught the virus at schools, but still, the losses are hard for everyone. Fortunately, the medical community is making strides every day to prevent more deaths.
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