South Carolina police cope with ‘tragic loss’ after officer dies of COVID-19
Police in South Carolina are mourning an officer who recently died of COVID-19.
“It is with profound sadness we must report to the Citizens of Aiken, Public Safety Officer Kevin Simmons has passed away,” department spokeswoman Lt. Jennifer Hayes said in a news release.
Simmons, 43, had been with the Aiken Department of Public Safety since May 10, when began serving as a public safety officer in training, according to the release.
Simmons died of COVID-19, according to multiple media reports. He died Sunday, about three months since he joined the Aiken Department of Public Safety, according to an obituary posted by Posey Funeral Directors of North Augusta.
Simmons was being treated at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Georgia, Hayes told The State.
Simmons’ ex-brother-in-law and North Augusta councilman Eric Presnell said both Simmons and his wife had COVID-19, and she remains on a ventilator in the ICU, the Aiken Standard reported.
In addition to his wife, Simmons is survived by children, according to Hayes.
“I love u daddy I hope ur playing golf up there with grandpa. Forever in my heart </3,” Danielle Simmons said in an online memorial.
No funeral arrangements have been announced.
“Please keep the Simmons family and Aiken Public Safety in your prayers as we deal with this tragic loss,” Hayes said.
In the beginning of 2021, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department suffered its first active duty death because of COVID-19 when Terry Joel Barrett, an investigator turned chaplain in the department, died of coronavirus complications, Sheriff Leon Lott said.
In July 2020, a 35-year veteran of the Columbia Police Department died of complications from COVID-19. Master Police Officer Robert J. “Bob” Hall was 57 when died a little more than a week after he began receiving treatment for the coronavirus.
The Officer Down Memorial Page reported that at least 97 law enforcement officers in the U.S. have died of COVID-19 in 2021. That is by far the most common cause of in-the-line-of-duty deaths, more than twice the number of officers killed in shootings (39), according to the website.
The U.S. is experiencing a third wave of COVID cases during the pandemic because of the highly-contagious delta variant.
South Carolina has seen more than 669,000 (confirmed and probable) cases of the coronavirus and 10,115 deaths since the start of the pandemic. With nearly 46% of the state’s population fully vaccinated, health officials are urging people to get the COVID vaccine to help limit the spread of the virus and to protect themselves.
As of Aug. 4, there have been 270 breakthrough cases that led to hospitalization in South Carolina, and 0.0023% of fully vaccinated people died of COVID-19, according to DHEC.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 10:55 AM with the headline "South Carolina police cope with ‘tragic loss’ after officer dies of COVID-19."
