[ad_1]
A Las Vegas-based Southwest Airlines flight attendant died of COVID-19 on Tuesday, his family and colleagues said.
New York native Maurice “Reggie” Shepperson whose brightly colored pants earned him the Skittles nickname in training in 2014, tested positive for COVID in early July and had been battling the virus in hospital for a month , according to Marcia Hildreth, a flight attendant from the Southwest who called her her best friend.
He was on a ventilator and died early Tuesday, his mother, Dawn Shepperson, told USA TODAY. A nurse told him it was from COVID.
Shepperson, 36, has been fully vaccinated, her mother and Hildreth said. He loved to fly and took every precaution, wearing a mask, constantly washing his hands, sanitizing surfaces and wiping everything in hotel rooms, Hildreth said.
“It hurt a lot because it was so fast,” said Dawn Shepperson. “I didn’t even have time to really recognize what was going on. It’s mind-blowing. It’s not true. It’s not true. It’s not true.”
Hildreth said she was also incredulous.
“I will miss my friend,” she said.
Southwest spokesman Brandy King confirmed that a Las Vegas-based employee died on Tuesday, but declined to provide details. Shepperson’s mother said the airline contacted her and Hildreth said Southwest contacted her after Shepperson’s death and took her off a work trip so she could return home to Las Vegas Wednesday.
“We are heartbroken over the loss of our Southwest employee,” King said in a statement. “Out of respect for the family, we have no additional information to share.”
Southwest and other airlines have not released statistics on the number of COVID cases and deaths among flight crew. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents flight attendants from United, Frontier, Spirit and Hawaiian airlines, among others, has estimated that 4,000 flight attendants from all airlines in the United States have contracted the virus. and 20 died.
At the start of the pandemic: American Airlines flight attendant dies from coronavirus, raising fears in industry
“Reminder of the scope of this pandemic”: Two JetBlue employees died of complications from coronavirus on the same day
“She needed money”: Family mourns loss of Phoenix flight attendant, 79, to COVID-19
Shepperson has worked throughout the pandemic and has been taken off work several times due to his exposure to COVID-19, Hildreth said. But he never tested positive until July, she said.
Shepperson was what his colleagues call a frequent traveler: he took more work trips than most. Partly to earn money, part to travel wherever he could.
Kiki Lee was in Shepperson’s flight attendant training class in 2014 in Dallas, where Southwest is based.
After five weeks of training, she and other newly created flight attendants just wanted to go home. Shepperson began to use the theft benefits of his employees. One of the first trips, Lee recalls, was to China.
“He was hitting the sky the right way, using his perks,” Lee said. “He loved working and he loved the benefits.”
Shepperson’s Facebook page shows his travel adventures, including several work trips to Hawaii. In June, he took his mother for a walk. His mother said it was one of his last work trips to the Southwest before he tested positive.
“He loved travel and everyone who knew him knew he loved his mother,” Lee said.
Travis Pittman, another Las Vegas-based flight attendant for Southwest, met Shepperson when he moved to Nevada from Tampa in 2016.
“That New York City exterior can be tough and all that,” he said. “But he was like a teddy bear, so soft on the inside and very, very loving. Just a lot of fun to be around.”
Dawn Shepperson said Reggie, who she raised on her own after her father died at the age of 14 months, made her proud every time she walked through a southwest terminal at an airport.
“People that I don’t even know, once they found out I’m Reggie’s mom, said, ‘Ma’am, you’ve done a great job. He’s a good young man, ” she said. “As a mother, I feel so blessed and proud because that’s all I wanted in life, was to raise my son well.”
Canceled flight : American Airlines flight between Australia and Los Angeles canceled after flight attendants tested positive for COVID-19
Flight training epidemic: 14 Hawaiian Airlines flight attendants tested positive for COVID-19
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Southwest Airlines flight attendant dies of COVID-19
[ad_2]
Source link