New Variant Makes Its Way To The U.S.

There’s a new variant of Covid-19 going around called the Omicron. Researchers say it could’ve started in September or October of last year. The Omicron variant makes Covid spread faster than other viruses making it much more dangerous to those who come into contact with the new variant. Health officials say that the previous Covid-19 shot should work just fine with fighting against Covid or any of it’s variants. Going back to March of 2019 when it was just announced that all schools will shut down for approximately two weeks, students and teachers were filled with mixed emotions after hearing they would no longer be returning to school that year. 

Here’s what Colby Webb, a Biology and Earth Science teacher at Ridgeview High School, had to say, “I thought it was probably for the best, there was not a lot of information we knew at that point about the virus. We did know that it was a Coronavirus, which Coronaviruses typically have a standard procedure of how they act and we have estimates but at the same time in any sort of scientific discipline you can never be 100% positive.” 

After speaking with several students on whether they prefer online or in person classes half of the students said they would prefer online while the other half preferred to attend in person classes. Shelsey Meglar Pineda, a Junior, had to say, “I would prefer in person school because I feel like I would have less distractions and I have to be in a learning environment”. Melany Ramos, junior, had said this about that matter, “Personally I would have preferred to be online or just even been given the choice instead of being thrown into an environment where I really don’t feel safe because my health and the health of others close to me are at risk. Many students take precautions in order to do their best in order to avoid being exposed to Covid while other students don’t care and put those who do at risk”. 

Some of the staff and students believe it was difficult for them to attend online classes and the quarantine in general, here’s what Ramos had to say about that, “I feel like during the quarantine and online it was when I was finally able to experiment and I grew to love myself during these times. It was a challenge I needed in order to grow and in a way to mature and understand not everything is easy and we have to learn to adapt and understand”. Pineda says, “It was very challenging because I wasn’t able to focus due to the fact that it was over a computer and I didn’t feel connected with the class.”