Bus drivers dying of COVID-19 in Miami-Dade

Miami, Florida – On Monday morning Miami-Dade County bus driver Tim Jones lost his two-week fight with COVID-19, before meeting 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.
“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.”
According to LeFlore, a bus attendant also lost their battle against the virus, and a 30-year bus driver died on the first day of school last week.
The large numbers of deaths 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.”
According to LeFlore, she isn’t in favor of mandating vaccines but that the union is working on a program to encourage them.