CPS mom dies after child exposed to COVID-19 at school where hundreds of children are in quarantine

The mother of a Chicago public school student at Jensen Elementary School has died after battling COVID-19, her family say, while hundreds of students, including her own, have been ordered to put in quarantine because they were exposed to several confirmed cases of the virus at school.

The district, which has been criticized by the Chicago Teachers Union and some parents over its safety plan when it reopens full-time this fall, has claimed since the start of the pandemic that there has been little if any , school transmission of the virus, and again Monday, denied finding any evidence that the eight cases in Jensen had been transmitted to others in the building or at home.

Before dying at the end of last week, Shenitha “Angel” Curry – described by the family as “vibrant and outspoken” – said she was frustrated and angry with the school system’s COVID-19 protocols, in particular the contract-finding program which she says never reached her for an interview. Curry’s sister said on Monday that Curry told her in her final days that she was sure her illness was from school. Curry’s 44th birthday was reportedly later this week.

Anxiety was already high in Jensen before parents learned of Curry’s death from teachers and union organizers as they took their children to school on Monday. In the past two weeks, 205 students have been sent home after being identified as close contact with at least one of eight children or educators who contracted the virus, according to district records. That left 11 of the school’s 17 classrooms in quarantine, with eight classes expected to return from their two-week distance learning period on Monday. Lawndale School has 297 students.

Curry’s 5th-year daughter was one of the children ordered to self-isolate and return this week, but she is staying home after her mother passed away on Thursday. Curry also has a son in high school.

CPS officials wrote in an email to the Jensen community on Sunday evening that they were “saddened by the devastating impacts of COVID-19 on our community, and understood the fear and anxiety you must feel in the face of this tragedy ”.

The district did not mention Curry’s death in that message, and spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski said in an email Monday that the CPS is “unable to confirm or deny reports of health issues related to our students and their families as a result of federal privacy laws. “

She added that the Chicago Department of Public Health “continues to review the situation, but at this time, and based on the information available, including the timing of symptoms, dates of testing and known out-of-school exposures, it does not. There is no evidence “that none of the eight Jensen cases were passed on to the school.

District officials visited the school on Monday and said they plan to offer testing at the school through Lurie Children’s Hospital from Tuesday. Testing has yet to be completed at Jensen this school year.

A spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner said the office has yet to receive notice of Curry’s death from the hospital she was admitted to, West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, so a official cause of death has not been determined.

Supplied / Jasyma Johnson

Jensen’s teachers and staff wore Black Monday and laid roses outside the school to commemorate the deaths of Curry and another mother who they say died on Friday. No details have been released about this mom or her cause of death.

The 60644 zip code where Curry lived is in the city’s last five COVID-19 vaccination rates at 48%, according to city data. Curry herself had been reluctant to get the vaccine for a variety of reasons and had not received a vaccine despite underlying medical conditions, her sister said.

In a Facebook post on September 16, Curry wrote that she first received an email stating that her daughter was near someone who tested positive for COVID-19 and that she should be taken into custody. quarantine. She said she then received a text message saying her contact tracing was over and her daughter’s class would be returning to school on Monday.

“Someone please explain to me how the contact tracing is done,” Curry wrote, claiming that no one had “called my phone to see if we were sick here.” By that time, according to her post, she and her daughter had already been sick for a few days, even though her daughter was doing better. In response to a friend’s comment on her post, Curry said she could “barely go to the bathroom” because she was very sick.

In an interview on Monday, Curry’s sister Jasyma Johnson said Curry went to the emergency room the day she made this post on Facebook and that she was released the same night. After a few days of battling the virus, Curry went into cardiac arrest that Sunday and was sent to intensive care, where she remained until her death on Thursday.

Johnson said her sister strictly follows pandemic mitigation protocols, only leaving her home when necessary and always wearing a mask, cleaning her hands and sanitizing surfaces. With that in mind, Johnson said Curry was “100% sure” that his illness could be attributed to school. She had wanted her kids to learn remotely this fall, Johnson said.

“She was really upset that she had to send her kids to school because she felt like she knew she was going to be the one to get sick. And There you go. She fell ill and she did not resist.

Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times

Meanwhile, other parents at the school said Monday they were worried about their children’s health.

Latrice Jackson, who has two sons and a daughter in Jensen, was outside Jensen in the afternoon removing his sons from school. Jackson’s daughter, meanwhile, has been quarantined for nearly two weeks due to exposure to a confirmed case and is in a classroom due to return on Wednesday. She learned virtually during this time.

“I was a little [nervous] but it seemed like they had it all together when it came to safety, ”Jackson said of sending his kids to school this fall. “But it doesn’t look like that anymore. … It’s ridiculous. My children are coming home.

Jackson said she believes the whole school should close for two weeks for cleaning and quarantine. She wasn’t sure whether to send her daughter away this week after her quarantine period ended.

“I don’t think that’s for sure,” Jackson said.

Contributing: Brett Chase