Four Broward teachers die of COVID-19, days before school year begins, union says
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Four teachers have died of COVID-19 in Broward County, just days before the school year begins in the school district, the local teachers union confirmed.
Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco made the announcement Thursday that three teachers and one teacher's assistant all died from the virus in a 24-hour period, according to WSVN.
"It's a very sad opening of school," Fusco said. "Everybody is just shocked, and they're devastated, and their hearts are broken."
One of the teachers had a pre-existing condition that prevented her from getting the shot, Fusco said. She told WTVJ that at least three of the four were not vaccinated, but added that one had recently been cleared by a doctor to get the vaccine.
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Fusco said all of the educators were on summer break when they got the virus, and none had been back in any school buildings since the end of the last school year, according to WPLG.
The news comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban on mandatory school mask policies faces a challenge from parents in a Tallahassee courtroom on Friday afternoon.
Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper is scheduled to hear a lawsuit brought by parents from several large school districts who are asking that limits be lifted on mandatory masking as children across Florida are returning to school.
DeSantis has repeatedly said it should be up to parents to decide whether their children will wear masks in classrooms. But with infections from the delta variant surging, some school districts are following guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instead. The CDC recommends that everyone wear masks indoors in places where the risk of contagion is high.
RELATED: Florida parents head to court to challenge DeSantis’ executive order on mask mandates in schools
The lawsuit says the mask ban violates Florida's constitution, which grants power solely to local school boards to operate, control, and supervise classes within their districts. The parents also claim that while it may be safe to operate schools in some areas of the state without masks, it is not safe to do so in "crisis" areas of Florida which include Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
The parents who brought the lawsuit are from Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Orange, Alachua, Hillsborough, and Pinellas counties.
In some counties, students and teachers who returned to classrooms only days ago are already under a COVID-19 quarantine.
In Palm Beach County, officials said they ended the second day of classes with 440 students sent home to quarantine because of 51 cases detected among staff members and students.
Orange County's school system reported 333 total cases after classes began this week, with 20 teachers and 39 students still quarantined.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.