Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant Dies From COVID-19

A 36-year old Southwest Airlines flight attendant has died from COVID-19, family and friends said.

Maurice “Reggie” Shepperson tested positive for the coronavirus in early July and had been in the hospital for the last month, fellow Southwest flight attendant Marcia Hildreth and Shepperson’s mother, Dawn Shepperson, told USA Today.

He died on Tuesday, August 10.

His mother and Hildreth said he was fully vaccinated. Dawn Shepperson said a nurse told her his death was from COVID-19.

Southwest spokesman Brandy King confirmed to USA Today that a Las Vegas-based employee died Tuesday but declined to provide details. Shepperson’s mother said the airline reached out to her, and Hildreth said Southwest contacted her after Shepperson’s death and pulled her from a work trip, so she could fly 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 do not have additional information to share.”

Southwest and other airlines have not released statistics on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths among flight crews. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents flight attendants at United, Frontier, Spirit and Hawaiian airlines, among others, estimated that 4,000 flight attendants across all airlines in the USA have contracted the virus and 20 have died.