MIAMI – Veteran Miami-Dade County school bus trainer Tim Jones lost his two-week fight with COVID-19 on Monday morning, having never met his newborn.
Jones had been waiting for full FDA approval to get vaccinated, but when that came last week, it was too late for him.
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His death is the most recent in a steady drip of devastating news into union hall, particularly among school bus drivers in the county.
“We’re losing, what, about seven employees a week to COVID,” said Phyllis LeFlore, president of the AFSCME Local 1184. “Now everybody is getting scared. That’s all I hear this morning. That we are scared.”
LeFlore spoke about a bus attendant who also lost their battle against the virus, and a 30-year school bus driver who died on the first day of school last week.
Since a bus terminal prayer vigil was held for a driver who died from COVID in February, the numbing numbers are ticking up, reflective of the statewide crisis.
“I was told a lot of them were unvaccinated,” LeFlore said. “We have so many unvaccinated, and I asked them why and I really can’t get an answer.”
LeFlore said she isn’t in favor of mandating vaccines but that the union is working on a program to encourage them.
To find out where you can get a COVID-19 vaccine in South Florida, click here.