Unvaccinated Woman Dies From COVID; Family Still Refuses to Get the Shot

The family of an unvaccinated county employee in Florida who died after COVID-19 swept through the government office building where she worked is still refusing to get vaccinated, even though their mother’s inoculated coworkers did not get sick at all.

58-year-old Mary Knight passed away last week from complications related to COVID-19, Manatee County authorities announced.  Knight had worked for the county on and off for 15 years. A second unvaccinated co-worker, 53-year-old Alphonso Cox, also died last week after coming down with COVID-19. Three others in the office who were unvaccinated and contracted the virus became so ill they were hospitalized, but narrowly survived.

None of their vaccinated coworkers were affected at all, County Administrator Dr. Scott Hopes said in a statement.

Hart's daughter Molly doesn’t believe that COVID-19 was responsible for killing her mom and told reporters, “No one in my family will be getting the vaccine.”  It is not known whether Molly Hart has either a college degree or even a high school diploma.  Molly believes that stress killed her mom, not COVID.  According to Molly, "A healthy body and immune system [do] not need the vaccine.” (This is false, according to public health experts.)

The county administration building was shut down in the aftermath of the outbreak.  When it reopened, mask-wearing shockingly continued to be optional for vaccinated and unvaccinated workers, said Manatee officials. 

About 43 percent of Manatee County residents have been fully vaccinated. In May, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed an executive order banning so-called vaccine passports, forbidding businesses to require proof of vaccination from customers, and suspended all statewide mask mandates. He also declared that he would pardon anyone who was punished by Florida counties or municipalities for violating public health restrictions.

“We really need everybody to get onboard with this, whether it’s vaccination testing, prevention, all of it is so, so, so, so important,” Florida Department of Health public information officer Christopher Tittel told FOX13. “The vaccinations, they only work if people get vaccinated.”