‘COVID ... is a murderer.’ Ill Eastern Kentucky school worker felt better, then died
Landon Fletcher, a district maintenance employee for Magoffin County Schools for more than 21 years, “hardly ever missed work, never got sick,” his son Scotty said.
Then, about two weeks ago, Landon Fletcher tested positive for COVID-19. He called his son, who was quarantining with his family, from the hospital and said he was feeling better and would probably be out in a few days.
But the next day they didn’t hear anything.
Hospital staff said Landon Fletcher became delusional, pulled his oxygen and IV out and was put on a ventilator. He died Thursday. At least one other Kentucky school employee has died and several are currently critically ill with COVID.
Kentucky’s General Assembly is meeting in special session with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear seeking safety measures and other relief for Kentucky schools amid escalating cases. The Republican-led legislature is pushing back on a statewide mask mandate and wants to limit school shutdowns.
“I just still can’t believe it’s real,” Scotty Fletcher said of his father’s death. “ I wish it was a dream but I’ll tell you this. If you asked me what COVID was, I’d say it is a murderer. It killed my dad and I’m so heartbroken over it.”
Scotty Fletcher said his father did not get vaccinated.
“I wish now I’d made him go down there and get the shot. This seems so unbelievable. My wife and three of my kids got COVID so we all got sick around the same day as my dad got it. Even my 4-week old baby had it,” he said.
Scotty Fletcher said he has remained negative for COVID-19.
“I stayed right around them and my dad and felt sick but had two negative tests,” he said. He missed three weeks of work as his family battled COVID.
Fletcher said he and his wife will get the vaccine.
Scotty Fletcher lived right next to his father, a man who loved his dogs so much he hand-fed them. He loved his grandkids. And he loved to help people.
“If anyone had something that needed fixed, they knew to ask him because he knew everything. He was a good handyman and it tickled him to help someone,” said Fletcher. “He was my rock.”
“He was a good employee,” Magoffin County Superintendent Scott Helton said of Landon Fletcher. “It’s sad.”
Helton said the school district had been shut down for about two weeks because of COVID and reopened this week. One other employee was also hospitalized but is now back at work.
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