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Chicago mom didn't die from COVID-19 as CTU claimed, ME report says

By FOX 32 Digital Staff
Published  March 8, 2022 3:34pm CST
Chicago Public Schools
FOX 32 Chicago

2 Chicago moms die of COVID-19 after outbreaks at school

Two mothers of Chicago Public School students have died of COVID-19 in the past week.

CHICAGO - A mother of a Chicago Public School student who CTU said died from COVID-19 after her daughter was quarantined due to an outbreak at her school actually died from chronic ethanolism, the Cook County Medical Examiner confirmed Monday.

Denisha Henry, 32, was the mother of a student at Jensen Elementary — located in the East Garfield Park neighborhood. 

In a press release from last September, the Chicago Teachers Union said, "We are in mourning with the Jensen school community, with COVID claiming the life one 47-year-old school mother last Thursday, and a second 32-year-old mother on Friday. Both mothers had children sent home from quarantined classrooms. One mother complained bitterly on social media that she was never contacted by a contact tracer. Within a week she was dead."

Henry died on Sept. 24. 

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The school council said during that time, 11 out of 17 classrooms at Jensen Elementary were in quarantine. 

An after-school Speak-Out for Safety was held by parents and rank and file school members last September following the two mothers' deaths — calling for more safety protocols.

However, the 32-year-old mother did not die from COVID-19. The medical examiner says she died of chronic ethanolism — which means she drank herself to death.