Minnesota school staff member dies from COVID-19

Another Minnesota school staff member has died from COVID-19.

Education Minnesota said Thursday that it’s the third death of a school staff member this school year and the 11th since the start of the pandemic.

"There are too many sick people in our buildings, too many buildings that aren’t following best practices to control the virus and, to be blunt, too many people dying," Denise Specht, president of Education Minnesota, said. "The experts have told us how to operate schools safely during the pandemic – but we need every school to actually follow the rules."

In addition to the 11 school staff members who’ve died from COVID-19, one student also died from COVID-19 last year.

Since August 2020, a total of 33,876 COVID-19 cases have been reported that are associated with schools, along with 324 hospitalizations of students and staff.

No other details about the most recent staff member who died were immediately released.