A 28-year-old South Carolina elementary school teacher died of coronavirus on Monday, three days after being diagnosed with the illness, school officials announced Wednesday.
Demetria “Demi” Bannister, a third-grade teacher at Windsor Elementary School in Columbia, was last at the school on Aug. 28 during a week of teacher workdays before classes started, officials said.
Bannister, who led the school choir, had been working from home since classes began on Aug. 31 as her school district — Richland 2 — kicked off the year with all virtual classes.
“While gone from us too soon, Ms. Bannister’s legacy lives on through the lives of the students she taught in her five years as a dedicated educator,” Richland 2 superintendent Baron Davis said in a statement.
It’s unclear where Bannister contracted COVID-19, but the district instructed custodians to deeply clean the school.
School officials are also working to determine anybody Bannister was in contact with.
South Carolina, to date, has reported more than 124,000 COVID-19 cases and 2,800 deaths, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.
With Post wires
