State reports ninth and 10th deaths of school staff members from COVID-19 

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CHRIS WILLIAMS
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ST. PAUL, Minnesota. Sept. 23, 2021 – Education Minnesota repeated its call for educators and other adults in the school community to keep themselves and their students safe after the Minnesota Department of Health reported the first two COVID-19 deaths of school staff members in the current school year. 

“Today is another tragic reminder that this pandemic isn’t over,” said Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota. “Everyone in our school communities must continue doing everything we can to keep ourselves and our students safe and in the buildings. For at least a little while longer, our schools need to embrace masking, social distancing, vaccinations and all the other tools in the toolbox to keep schools open during the current surge of the virus.”

Since the pandemic began in 2020, 10 school staff members and one student have died of COVID-19, according to state data. Eight educators died during the previous school year; two have now died in the 2021-22 school year. Since August 2020, there have been 29,222 COVID-19 cases associated with schools and 291 hospitalizations of students and staff.

The health department’s weekly report did not include details about the school staff members who died, including where the educators worked, vaccination status, age or if the educators had pre-existing health conditions. Questions about the death of the school staff members should go to the health department.

The department’s weekly report can be found here: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/stats

About Education Minnesota
Education Minnesota is the voice for professional educators and students. Education Minnesota’s members include teachers and education support professionals in Minnesota’s public school districts, faculty members at Minnesota’s community and technical colleges and University of Minnesota campuses in Duluth and Crookston, retired educators and student teachers. Education Minnesota is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and AFL-CIO.

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