A pair of Florida siblings — one a paramedic, the other a teacher’s aide — died from COVID-19 just one day apart, relatives and county officials said.
Shyla Pennington, a 41-year-old teacher’s assistant for the Volusia County School District, died Saturday, one day before her 51-year-old brother, Gerald Jones, who worked as a paramedic in the county, succumbed to complications from the virus and pneumonia, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.
“This is not right,” the pair’s father, Greg Jones, wrote on Facebook Sunday.
Gerald was quarantined on Aug. 6 following exposure to someone who tested positive for the virus, Volusia EMS officials said Monday, adding that they don’t believe he picked up the virus while at work. Jones was later admitted to a hospital on Sept. 14, he wrote on his Facebook page.
“Take this virus seriously, wear your masks, do your social distancing, all that,” Greg Jones told The Daily Beast Tuesday. “I know they’ve said it a billion times … but we can speak from experience now: Take it seriously.”
Pennington, who lived with her brother, tested positive for the virus less than a week after classes resumed on Aug. 31 at Sugar Hill Elementary in Port Orange, where she helped special-education teachers, The Daily Beast reports.
She was later rushed to a hospital on Sept. 11 with low oxygen saturation levels before having kidney and blood pressure issues, according to relatives’ Facebook posts.
District officials declined to respond to specific questions on Pennington’s death, but said in a statement she was a “dedicated employee” and mother who loved children.
“We are deeply saddened by her passing, and our hearts go out to her family, friends, and colleagues in Volusia County Schools,” district officials told The Daily Beast in a statement.
“My heart breaks for their family,” Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood wrote on Facebook. “I’m praying they find peace and know that so many of us are wrapping our arms around them. The human toll of covid-19 is real, and these are the first responders and front-line workers who risk their own health and safety to keep our society functioning.”
As of Thursday, 13,795 people in Florida have died from the coronavirus, including 238 in Volusia County, state data shows.
