* Taylorville’s school district initially balked at the statewide mask mandate. Its superintendent also signed an open letter denouncing the state mandate as a violation of local control.
* Then the school district appeared to try to get out front of a tragic story yesterday…
Taylorville High School is grieving after it was announced that a high school senior passed away last night.
Taylorville School Superintendent Doctor Chris Dougherty, in a news release sent this morning, announced that Alexia Garrison, a senior student at Taylorville High School, died last night at her home where she collapsed.
Dr. Dougherty, in the release, said there are no words to express the grief, heartbreak, and sense of loss felt by everyone in the Taylorville School District.
I was told by one area reporter that the school district pushed back against questions yesterday.
* But the facts are starting to come out…
Preliminary autopsy results revealed Garrison died of natural causes with COVID-19 being a contributing factor.
Final autopsy results will be released in a few weeks.
This virus can do things to your body which can injure or kill you long after you’re no longer contagious.
* More…
Garrison was quarantined for COVID-19, but had cleared her quarantine period and returned to school at Taylorville High School, according to a Christian County Public Health Official. […]
Students at Taylorville High School are planning to wear purple — Garrisons’s favorite color — to class on Friday to honor her memory.
Hopefully, this tragic death will prompt more people in the area to get vaccinated. Just 39 percent of Christian County’s population is vaxed, according to IDPH.
* Click the image from IDPH if you need a bigger version to see that unvaccinated kids aged 12-17 represent the highest case growth by far in Illinois right now…
…Adding… Rep. Deb Conroy…
Tragic. Which anti mask, my body my choice Republican will step up and take responsibility for the death of Alexia Garrison? She is everyone’s child and no child is safe when personal political gain is valued over human life.
*** UPDATE *** Get your shots, people…
- Cool Papa Bell - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 2:40 pm:
My condolences to the family.
We knew this day was coming, its come in other states and other areas already. Hits home here in central Illinois.
I want everyone to take this virus seriously. Folks we have the tools right now to end this thing.
Please, pull together and do it.
- Jocko - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 2:45 pm:
==[T]here are no words to express the grief, heartbreak, and sense of loss felt by everyone in the Taylorville School District.==
Actually there are three. “Go get vaccinated” To do any less is to insult Alexia’s memory.
- Kyle’s mom - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 2:52 pm:
An 18 year old student at Lincoln-Way (New Lenox, Frankfort, Mokena, Manhattan areas) died of covid a while back, and some of those people are out there protesting masks too. These people are monsters.
At least the kid in Taylorville could have got the shot; I think the LW student died before it was available.
- It's all nanners - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:03 pm:
Since COVID is obviously still this much of a threat, why are kids still in school? District 186 had close to 1500 kids in quarantine not more than a few weeks ago, and now this. So why is being back in school being pushed so hard? I’m asking sincerely. Especially given the pushback against masks and vaccines that is happening in certain areas.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:09 pm:
I’m heartbroken, as I am when I hear of the deaths of this pandemic.
I’m angry and frustrated, deeply sad as well.
At what point will the realities be more than the myths.
- Norseman - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:11 pm:
I get angry (yes, it is a continuing theme for today’s America) when I hear mostly GOP politicians about the low death rate among kids or young people, etc. as justification for opposing public health mitigation measures. Not only are they spending misinformation and outright lies, they want you minimize your focus on the effects of the pandemic. It’s like the lottery, it doesn’t have real meaning until your numbers are drawn. Only with Covid, your selection means death or debilitating illness. Pain that can be avoided with minimal discomfort.
Get your shot and wear your mask.
- It's all nanners - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:11 pm:
Also,I’m pretty certain that children under 12 can’t even get the vaccine yet. But now, it’s imperative that we get kids back in school. Thousands of kids all in the same place in some schools. It’s a lot to process, and I’m not really seeing the logic.
- Pundent - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:15 pm:
Leaders need to be held accountable for reckless behavior and rhetoric. Chris Dougherty is responsible for the children who’s care he’s entrusted with regardless of his political leanings. In this instance, and many others, we’ve seen leaders and elected officials choosing to ignore those responsibilities and using kids as pawns. It has to stop.
- Juvenal - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:26 pm:
“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.” - Proverbs 11:29
Countdown until DeVore and others accuse everyone of politicizing her death.
Dr. Dougherty says there are “no words” to express the heartbreak, well here are 19:
“You are partly to blame, Dr. Dougherty, as a role model for students and the community, for her death.”
- Dotnonymous - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:30 pm:
The effects of SARS-CoV-2 remain unknown and quite medically mysterious…this virus is known to be systemic… potentially affecting every mammalian organ and system…in ways known and yet unknown.
- Strannik - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:33 pm:
== So why is being back in school being pushed so hard? I’m asking sincerely. Especially given the pushback against masks and vaccines that is happening in certain areas.===
Because remote learning has measurable negative effect on mental health and educational attainment.
For much of 2020-2021 school year, we didn’t have vaccines, and it took months for students to become eligible, so keeping learning remote was more justifiable. The calculus is different now.
The problem is that there isn’t a perfect scenario. We are trying to choose the least worst option that produces the least worst outcomes.
- Rusty Shackleford - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:38 pm:
==Because remote learning has measurable negative effect on mental health and educational attainment.==
We’re ok with kids dying over optimal education now? Kids under 12 can’t be vaccinated, and I have seen firsthand that many of them can’t handle proper mask use. How many kids have to die before enough is enough?
- Pundent - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:43 pm:
=Dr. Dougherty says there are “no words” to express the heartbreak=
Well I think the words “I bear some responsibility” come to mind. Having leaders admit that they were wrong and owning up to the consequences of that is a start to finding the right “words”. Might as well get a jump start on the historians.
- Phenomynous - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:45 pm:
“Tragic. Which anti mask, my body my choice Republican will step up and take responsibility for the death of Alexia Garrison?”
What in the world?
- Jibba - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:50 pm:
What in the world?===
If you don’t get it, take a little more time.
- Nagidam - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:58 pm:
===“Tragic. Which anti mask, my body my choice Republican will step up and take responsibility for the death of Alexia Garrison?”
What in the world?===
Tough words for sure. Nothing else has worked with the anti-vaxx & anti-mask elected officials.
- west wing - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 3:59 pm:
With 90 percent of patients in ICU being the un vaccinated, the risk is clear for those who remain unvaccinated. And this tragedy in Taylorville will underscore the ongoing tragedy of having half of the population being fed a constant stream of disinformation in the name of “freedom.” Freedom to do what? Freedom to misinform high school students and their parents, to the point we’ll see more deaths? This isn’t political - it’s a human and health care tragedy.
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:04 pm:
What is the FDA thinking? They just rejected Pfizer booster shot use for everyone except people over 65 plus those with compromised immune systems.
I plan to lie about having the comprised immune system later this year and get my booster anyway.
- AD - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:08 pm:
===We’re ok with kids dying over optimal education now? Kids under 12 can’t be vaccinated, and I have seen firsthand that many of them can’t handle proper mask use. How many kids have to die before enough is enough?===
These decisions are horrific and terribly hard to make, but like others have said, we have to decide which does the least overall damage to society and the kids as a whole.
Kids die in car accidents all the time, but we still drive. In a pandemic, you’re faced with similar decisions and have to decide where you are on the risk/reward spectrum. It sounds terrible (and it is), but that is the situation we are in with this pandemic.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:12 pm:
=== Kids die in car accidents all the time, but we still drive===
We have seat belt laws… so there’s that.
===In a pandemic, you’re faced with similar decisions and have to decide where you are on the risk/reward spectrum.===
So you gamble with your child “win or lose” on their health?
This silly only makes sense if the child then gets Covid and the parent *then* decides… “you know what we gambled and lost, no treatment, let’s see if they live”
===It sounds terrible===
No. It’s heartless toward children especially if it’s a parent, then it’s doubly heartless.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:17 pm:
It’s kinda creepy…
…if you’re using “actuary-type” thinking when contemplating the safety and well being of a child in a global pandemic.
You’d think the safety and well-being would be paramount, but…
“Odds are… “
Whew.
- Phenomynous - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:18 pm:
-take a little more time-
There are just so many unknowns that I don’t understand why someone would have such an immediate and vapid response to a tragedy like this.
We have no idea the political leanings of this young woman or her family. We don’t know where she contracted COVID. All we know is an unvaccinated teenager tragically died of COVID…and apparently it’s some Republican’s fault and they should stand up and take responsibility for it.
- Club J - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:20 pm:
Well DeVore won another court case today. Another Judge believes a mask is a form of being quarantined. Now DeVore gets one family files the case then gets the TRO for every student in the district not just the children in that family. How things have changed. It was posted by the Edgar County Watchdogs who along with Greg Bishop are DeVore’s biggest promoters. It’s a regular celebration by these parents. Just seems odd that all these cases are happening in the same way so quickly.
- LakeCo - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:22 pm:
== So why is being back in school being pushed so hard? I’m asking sincerely. Especially given the pushback against masks and vaccines that is happening in certain areas.===
School is being pushed hard because all the evidence shows kids do better in school, and all the evidence shows that masking and social distancing WORK. My kid’s school strictly enforces the mask mandate. They have had a dozen positive COVID cases since the start of the school year and NOT ONE of those kids has spread it to anyone else at school, not even the kids sitting right next to them.
The question you need to be asking is why in the world anyone would fight a mask mandate when it is the only thing keeping kids safe in this pandemic.
- Juvenal - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:23 pm:
=== Kids die in car accidents all the time, but we still drive ===
600 kids a year die in auto accidents.
We tell them to wear their seatbelt.
We tell them not to drink and drive.
We tell them not to text and drive.
To follow your analogy, Dr. Dougherty is essentially telling kids its okay to drink and drive because the messaging has been mixed.
YOLO indeed.
Also, “you have to decide where you are on the risk/reward spectrum” is not how it works. Because people are terrible in many situations when it comes to assessing risk, which is why we havecseatbelt, texting, and DUI laws.
I get that kids dont like remote learning. There are choices in between Remote Learning and everyone going to school unvaccinated and unmasked, they require school leaders and parents to exercise good judgment and responsibility.
But if its a choice between remote learning and going to thier friend’s funeral, believ3 me your kid’s mental health is better off with remote learning.
- Pundent - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:23 pm:
=Kids under 12 can’t be vaccinated, and I have seen firsthand that many of them can’t handle proper mask use. How many kids have to die before enough is enough?=
Here’s a parent’s perspective. My kid was one of the few that was in school last year with a mask on. Optimal? No. Manageable? Yes. We had a couple of quarantine periods (due to behaviors outside of school) but the kids had no problem at all wearing masks and following rules. To the extent there was any noise around this it came from adults. And it wasn’t nearly as loud as we’re hearing this year. We were just grateful that our kids were in school and felt comfortable that the environment was safe and far better than elearning.
Kids aren’t the problem here, its the adults.
- SAP - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:33 pm:
I can think of nothing more painful than losing a child. Knowing as a parent that you could have protected your child, but chose not to…that’s going to be a huge burden for those parents. I’m both angry at them and heartbroken for them.
- sal-says - Friday, Sep 17, 21 @ 4:36 pm:
== Dr. Dougherty says there are “no words” to express the heartbreak, well here are 19:
“You are partly to blame, Dr. Dougherty, as a role model for students and the community, for her death.” ==
There needs to be a mechanism to immediately ’suspend’ politicians & ‘leaders’ that clearly disregard the health & safety of the public. Problems with deciding & implementing ? Mehbee. But look at the illness & deaths anti-vax, anti-mask pols & others are doing right now.