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Died October 8, 2020.
Baltimore City Public Schools, Baltimore, MD
Health Aide
The president of a union representing community health nurses in the Baltimore City Department of Health attributed a school health aide’s death earlier this month to poor working conditions exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Wendy Smith, president of Local 558 of AFSCME Council 67, said Marchiel McDuffie had expressed fears about reporting to work. The veteran health department employee died Oct. 8 of COVID-19.
The union filed a class action grievance with the city Sept. 8, before McDuffie’s sickness, related to workplace safety concerns expressed by members, Smith said, including a shortage of protective equipment, insufficient HVAC systems and poor air circulation inside the buildings. Those elements created a breeding ground for the coronavirus to spread, Smith said.
“We don’t have what we need,” Smith said. “Marchiel McDuffie did not have what she needed.”
In a response to the grievance dated Oct. 11, the city said the union’s grievance “did not directly correlate the employee’s suggested solutions with the specific articles violated,” but management would attempt to address the concerns as submitted, according to a copy of the decision.
Smith declined to provide a copy of the full grievance.
The Baltimore City Health Department confirmed McDuffie’s death on Oct. 9 but did not answer questions about where the Baltimore resident may have contracted it.
A department representative said it does not comment on union grievances.
“All staff are provided PPE in accordance with [Centers for Disease Control] guidelines as needed to complete their duties,” a Baltimore City Health Department employee said in a statement. “The Health Department takes its commitment to keeping its employees safe very seriously, and continues to proactively assess and address COVID-19 concerns among staff.”
Smith said McDuffie and another school nurse who went on to test positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalized for it returned to work at the same site in September. Both tested positive toward the end of the month, she said.
The nurse, who rotated among four city schools, has been released from the hospital, Smith said. McDuffie worked at an elementary/middle school in West Baltimore.
“This was 100% work related,” Smith said in an email. “You can’t bring people together in a pandemic, without the proper personal protection and the proper ventilating of air. They had countless interactions with people in the school buildings. This did not have to happen. This was absolutely preventable and predictable.”
Smith said the union would appeal the city’s grievance response to the department head.