TAHLEQUAH, Okla — More people are now quarantining after a Tahlequah student tested positive for COVID-19, according to Tahlequah Public Schools.
The student had limited contact with other students, the district said. Four others and one teacher now have to self isolate for 14 days after they were exposed to the student. The district notified the public on Monday of a Greenwood Elementary School staff member who also contracted the virus; exposing one other person.
All this comes after Tahlequah High School's special education teacher, Teresa Horn, died from complications related to COVID-19. Now, Horn’s daughter is speaking out about her mother’s battle with the virus and some of the misinformation spread on social media.
"I was really grateful for the mom that I got," Dani Haggard said. "Through all of this, it's making me strive to be more like her."
Horn died Friday due to a heart-related issue after contracting COVID-19. Mourning the death of her mother, Dani took to Facebook for support. However, she said misinformation on social media about her mother's death made it difficult for her and her family to grieve.
"I have no idea where they came from,” Haggard said.
Now, she wants the public to know who her mother was rather than how she died.
Ruth Poteete, worked alongside Horn in the special education department for 26 years. She said it won’t be the same at work without her.
"We helped each other a lot, and I'm going to miss that,” Poteete said. “Not only personally with me, but she'll be missed as a teacher."
In her second year as a speech pathologist at Tahlequah High School, Haggard says she knows how important her mother was to her students.
“She cared for her students," she said. "A lot of those students relied on her more than their own family."
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