‘Cheerful’ 38-year-old teacher dies 3 days after COVID-19 diagnosis, Iowa family says
A teacher in Iowa tested positive for COVID-19. Three days later, he was dead, his family says.
Jason Englert, 38, was the talented and gifted teacher at Belmond-Klemme Community School District and also coached junior high volleyball and girls basketball, according to his obituary.
He was found dead in his home on Nov. 8, three days after testing positive for COVID-19, his family told KCCI.
All teachers and staff were tested on Nov. 2 after an outbreak at the district’s secondary school, which prompted classes to move online at the end of October, the Des Moines Register reported. Englert learned he tested positive on Nov. 5.
“We sent him home early that Thursday and checked on him that Thursday night and that was the last time we heard from him,” Superintendent Daniel Frazier told the Register.
After Englert’s father was unable to reach him by phone on Sunday, police responded to Englert’s home for a welfare check and discovered his body, according to the newspaper.
Colleagues described Englert as a warm and upbeat man.
“Mr. Englert had a cheerful demeanor and a positive attitude, and he had wonderful rapport with his students,” Frazier told The Globe Gazette.
“It wasn’t unusual for me to ask him how it was going and he would say things like ‘living the dream,’” he said, according to KCCI.
The district said Englert’s death was “sudden” and would provide more information when it could, according to the Globe.
Counselors were available for students and staff this week, the newspaper reported.
Englert’s family has not received his official cause of death, but they speculate that the coronavirus may have caused a stroke or heart attack, according to KCCI.
The Belmond-Klemme school district serves rural students in northern Iowa about 90 miles north of Des Moines.
This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 12:44 PM with the headline "‘Cheerful’ 38-year-old teacher dies 3 days after COVID-19 diagnosis, Iowa family says."