UNION COUNTY, N.C. — A Union County school employee who was once nominated for crossing guard of the year is now at a crossroads of her own as she battles Covid-19 in a Charlotte-area hospital.
Friends and family of Melissa Bowman said she has been in the hospital for weeks after contracting Covid-19. According to a GoFundMe fundraiser for Bowman, she is now on a ventilator to give her body time to recover.
Bowman works at Poplin Elementary. According to the school directory, she serves as the data manager for the school.
Poplin Elementary had two staff members test positive for COVID-19 just days after employees returned to campus last month. Those cases prompted the school to move to Plan C, full virtual learning. Students are expected to return to in-person instruction on September 8th.
A spokesperson for Union County Schools said, due to HIPAA, they are unable to confirm whether Bowman is one of those two cases.
It is unclear whether Bowman contracted the virus before the start of the school year or after. A spokesperson could not say whether Bowman was ever on campus.
Union County returned to school this year under Plan B, a plan that brought students in for in-person instruction one day per week. Despite continued reports cases on campuses across the school district, Union County board members voted Tuesday to add an additional day of in-person instruction. Starting on September 28th, students in k-12 will receive in-person instruction two days per week. Board members cited the plan they discussed during a July meeting to gradually increase the number of days students receive instruction at school.
One board member at the meeting Tuesday said: "We have this situation, but we can’t become so crippled that we do nothing."
A number of people, including an organization representing teachers across the school district, have expressed concern about in-person instruction. One of those organizations submitted a letter referencing the amount of cases to date, including a "staff member in ICU fighting for their life."
According to the organizers of the GoFundMe account established for Bowman, she has now had multiple members of her immediate family test positive in recent weeks. Her family is also coping with the recent death of her mother-in-law.
"Her experience has not been smooth, but she is slowly and hopefully on the way to recovery," the organizers write. "Melissa is the strongest person we know, she will make it through this."
The fundraiser surpassed its goal of $10,000 less than two days after it was established.