EMPTY DESKS: CORONAVIRUS ROBS US CLASSROOMS OF TEACHERS

In July, fourth-grade teacher Susanne Michael was ecstatic as she celebrated the adoption of a former student from a troubled home and two of the girl’s brothers. For the festivities, Michael dressed them and her other children in matching T-shirts that read “Gotcha FOREVER.”

By October, the 47-year-old Jonesboro, Arkansas, woman was dead — one of an estimated nearly 300 school employees killed by the coronavirus in the U.S. since the outbreak took hold. All together, the U.S. had more than 250,000 confirmed virus deaths.

“She just basically would eat, sleep and drink teaching. She loved it,”