Teacher union says at least 33 Ky. school employees are dead of Covid-19; some were unvaccinated, but just how many is unclear

At least 33 Kentucky school employees have died of Covid-19, according to Kentucky 120 United, the state affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers union.

The union listed the employees by job and school district, but not by name. Valarie Honeycutt Spears of the Lexington Herald-Leader rounded up several examples in a story published Friday.

The union's list included 14 people in five districts with multiple fatalities: Three transportation workers, Grant County; bus driver, middle school teacher and central office employee, Fayette County; mental-health counselor, football coach, middle school teacher and attendance clerk, Jefferson County; instructional assistant and daytime custodian, Lee County; teacher and cafeteria cook, Monroe County. 

Sole fatalities and their districts listed were: Custodian, Bardstown; cafeteria cook, Bell County; preschool bus monitor, Bell and Whitley counties; bus mechanic, Boone County; teacher, Carroll County High School; custodian, Carter County; teacher, Caverna (Barren and Hart counties); counselor, Fort Knox High School; teacher, Fulton; health teacher/football coach, Greenup County; bus driver, Hopkins County; instructional assistant, maintenance worker, Magoffin County; Marshall County Central Elementary; kindergarten teacher, Nelson County; bus driver, LaRue County; bus monitor, Letcher County; bus monitor, Mercer County; cafeteria worker, Middlesboro; teacher, Trigg County High School; and bus driver, Warren County.

The Carroll County teacher was Tom Buchanan, 59, who died at a hospital in Dayton, Ohio, "because of a shortage of beds in Kentucky," the Herald-Leader reports. He was among the dead who were not vaccinated, and his wife, Misty, who developed Covid-19 but recovered, is also unvaccinated, the newspaper reports; she said they were worried about getting blood clots as a side effect. 

“It was a conscious decision that we didn’t waver from,” Misty Buchanan said. “I’ve been through a lot of guilt about that. . . . This was something he just didn’t feel comfortable getting.” Asked if she would now get vaccinated, she said, “I honestly don't know.”

Honeycutt Spears reports, "Some family members and employers of Kentucky school staffers have not or would not discuss vaccination status with the Herald-Leader."