Teacher Who Got Sick Before School Started Dies Of COVID: Report

SARASOTA, FL — A veteran teacher about to start her first year working at the Suncoast School for Innovative Studies in Sarasota contracted COVID-19 before the school year started and has died from the virus.

Fifth-grade teacher Michelle Cook, 51, taught for more than 20 years and was known for her passion for working with struggling students, her sister told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

“The thing that made her so good at that is she’s nonjudgmental, she’s the most forgiving person and just had the ability to accept people and students where they were,” Bethanne Bearden, Cook’s sister, said.

During her career, Cook taught at various schools in the county, including Booker Middle School, Oak Park School and Triad Alternative School.

Though she was able to decorate her new classroom ahead of the school year, she got sick Aug. 9 – the day before classes started for Sarasota County Schools – and was hospitalized at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, reports said. She spent more than a week in the intensive care unit, including six days on a ventilator.

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While her family wouldn’t share Cook’s vaccination status, they said she’s always been healthy, WFLA reported.

Her sister said she believes the beloved teacher would encourage others to protect themselves against the virus.

“I think her message would be to carry on, to be the best that you can be, and to make a decision to protect yourself from this nasty virus,” Bearden told WFLA.

One of Cook’s final Facebook posts shared just that message, reports said.

“Don’t be fooled into thinking your health is stronger than COVID – from a once healthy girl in day 5 COVID ICU, fighting to live,” she wrote.