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It has been almost a month since the tragic death of Detroit kindergarten student Jimari Williams on April 26, but the nature of the deadly disease has not yet been determined. On May 16, the Wayne County Coroner’s Office informed the WSWS that the autopsy would not be released until “sometime between August and November.” When our reporter asked about the reason for the delay, they received no specific answer, only that the lab was located in Pennsylvania.
The six-year-old was a student at Marcus Garvey Academy, where “an unusually high rate of flu-like symptoms, including student fever and vomiting, occurred primarily in the early grades,” according to the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD). The health department has never said how many people are ill in total.
Jimari Aiden Williams April 24, 2017 – April 26, 2023 [Photo: James H. Cole funeral home]
Consistent with the Biden administration’s May 11 ending of the pandemic public health emergency, there has been no official mention of COVID, nor has there been a school-wide testing protocol to protect students and staff. The most recent, completely unremarkable weekly COVID report from Michigan on May 2 showed 2,630 new cases of COVID-19 and 62 virus-related deaths. In other words, regardless of official statements, COVID continues to spread, damaging people’s immune systems and leading to deadly consequences.
Jimari’s classmates were sent back to school after a brief “foundation cleaning” with no concrete information about the disease or an attempt to deal with air cleanliness such as HEPA filtration in every classroom or Far-UV technology or even masking. According to the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 96 percent of schoolchildren have COVID, putting them at increased risk for many other diseases and conditions.
The only medical information released to the public was the diagnosis of four of Jimari’s classmates. The district reported that these children had Haemophilus influenzae, a term for any infection caused by a bacteria called H. influenzae. There are six different species of H. influenzae (designated a through f) as well as other H. influenzae classified as non-typeable. The best known is H. influenzae type B, or Hib, for which a vaccine exists and is required in most school districts. However, like COVID, H. influenza is airborne.
For their part, the Detroit Democratic Party establishment, including Mayor Mike Duggan and the Detroit Federation of Teachers, have remained silent on the death of Jimari Williams and the outbreak of infectious diseases at Marcus Garvey Academy.
The response from workers was just the opposite, and there was great concern among educators and parents. Upon learning of Jimari’s death, the parents of a child in Georgia with H. influenza contacted the WSWS. She asked that her experience be shared with other parents as a warning. She requested anonymity as legal matters related to her child’s traumatic illness were pending.
“I’m afraid parents aren’t being made aware of the dangers,” she said. This is very harmful. My daughter had COVID twice. We know that COVID weakens parts of the immune system. My daughter had [H. influenza] Beta-lactamase positive and she was vaccinated against it but got it anyway. Type B can cause sepsis, meningitis, pneumonia, or sepsis arthritis. The severity varies from ear infections to more serious infections.
“Is there a link between COVID and H. influenza? There are. In addition, there is the potential of COVID to reduce the effectiveness of the drug [Hib] Vaccination.” She referred to an article by Pablo Panico et al. entitled “The Potential Role of COVID-19 in Inducing DNA Damage,” which points to the role of DNA damage in many chronic diseases.
“How many times do you go to the doctor and the doctor says, ‘Oh, this is just viral.’ Well, H. influenza can cause meningitis and death. Thank God I found a doctor who finally diagnosed my child.”
The Georgia parent explained the difficult struggle to be taken seriously and receive a real diagnosis and cure. She said her daughter has an immune deficiency that can lead to repeated respiratory infections, making her health a real concern.
Generic influenza bacteria viewed through a microscope. [Photo: Microscopy by John Gallagher and Audray Harris, National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)]
“In January my daughter developed a fever and complained of leg pain. The next day her temperature rose to 103 degrees; She woke up shaking. It looks like the flu. When we take her to the doctor, he thinks it’s tonsillitis. First her temperature dropped and everything was negative. But then she got hot again and said her car seat was “on fire.” I’m exhausted as a parent, it’s so scary. My ex-mother-in-law fears it’s sepsis. We’ve started an antibiotic and she’s doing a little better.
Mehring books
COVID, Capitalism and Class Struggle: A Social and Political Chronology of the Pandemic
A compilation of the World Socialist Web Site’s coverage of this global crisis, available in epub and print format.
“On February 9th I was trying to wake my daughter and noticed her heart beating fast, it was about 145 beats per minute. She was in extreme pain trying to get her up. (She often complained of tired legs and pain). Her oxygen saturation dropped to the 70’s and her heart rate to the 50’s. She told me she would pass out. These episodes typically lasted about an hour.
“We took her to the hospital, which is an hour away. Her white blood count was extremely high at 21, which is considered a critical result. Her cortisol was 24.9 (afternoon lab work), which is high. They kept her for overnight monitoring and gave her another antibiotic to take for 10 days.
“In early March we ended up back in the hospital. After four days there they finally find a mild pulmonary obstruction, three nodules in her lungs. Three cultures were collected and tested, all three positive for Haemophilus influenzae, positive for beta-lactamase and Moraxella (B) catarrhalis. She had elevated neutrophils, suggesting a bacterial infection. They gave her 840 milligrams of Augmentin twice a day for four weeks.
“Now she is much better, no more night sweats, no more vomiting or episodes of extreme pain. It was sad to see her suffering and feeling helpless. I feel like we wouldn’t have gotten a diagnosis or the right medication if I hadn’t pushed for it.”
The Georgia mother said when she hears about cases like Jimari’s, she worries about parents “who don’t know the law or their rights. We’ve had dismissive doctors claiming her condition was “psychosomatic.” He wasn’t listening, which made me feel hopeless and scared.
“The system is broken. Just because we live in or come from poverty or don’t have a medical degree doesn’t mean we can’t make the right choices for our children. I feel like we know our children best and doctors really need to listen to parents more. Much information is published about COVID- and H. influenzae-associated diseases.
“Parents should not be afraid to speak their mind. I come from poverty, practically from nothing, but I will not be afraid to stand up for what I believe in and stand up for my children. I work in the school system but I am not a teacher and my salary is not that high. We make it work for our family. I’m lucky for what we have. My husband built our house and our mortgage is nowhere near what the average family has today. I know families with $1,600 a month tiny house mortgages in remote areas who have to work three or four jobs to make ends meet. How do you do that? Add to that the cost of groceries!
“If my experience helps someone else, I don’t want it to go to waste. Life is not always easy and we must keep fighting for what is right, inspiring others and breaking the cycle.”
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