COVID Case Spikes Impact School
By: Emily Balentine
Covid-19 cases have spiked since the start of the new year, which could potentially be linked to holiday travel and parties. This has led to a new mask mandate in place and many students, staff, and parents feeling upset. As of January 21st of 2022, William Chrisman High School has 34 covid-19 cases. As of the same date, 2.59% of the school district was quarantined for Coronavirus.
When asked about the current numbers, Mr. Becker said “Our positive numbers are up. We have a different process in regards to quarantine. We no longer quarantine. We mark students as either positive or as showing symptoms of being sick…the numbers are going to be different”.
We then talked about safety and precautions being taken at Chrisman. According to Dr. Adams, “We’re not contract tracing at all anymore”.
When asked if, in their opinions, students and staff felt safe here, Becker replied “I know I do [feel safe], I think that’s a random question for everybody here at Chrisman. I think everybody has their opinion about that. I know we take it very serious and we’ve taken steps to protect our kids and our staff and we’re doing everything that we can do”.
“I hope so…we’re trying to take all the precautions necessary that we’re given guidelines for,” said Adams
Talking about the process for notifying teachers and families of an exposure has changed dramatically since the start of last semester. “Communication through our nurses and Dr. Adams” said Becker.
“The way that we’re contact tracing and quarantining is different…with Omicron,” Said Adams. “When the nurse gets a positive test result of a student that’s been in school, been in a classroom, she contacts me and then I pull the rosters of all of the classes that that student has been in and then I send a mass email with a pre-prepared statement.”
However, there are some issues with this. “If you have two or more students in school, it doesn’t identify which student, so the parent has to call or respond to the email and we have to go in and investigate to determine which student it was that was exposed,” Said Adams.
We talked about the mask mandate and the effect it’s had on daily life. Mask mandates were lifted for Chrisman on November 15th of 2021. However, they were put back into effect on January 18th of 2022. “It’s a return to what we had this fall,” said Becker. When asked about if there was a foreseeable end to the mask mandate, Becker responded “There is not” and “No…no…I do not,” said Adams.
When asked about the current numbers, Mr. Becker said “Our positive numbers are up. We have a different process in regards to quarantine. We no longer quarantine. We mark students as either positive or as showing symptoms of being sick…the numbers are going to be different”.
We then talked about safety and precautions being taken at Chrisman. According to Dr. Adams, “We’re not contract tracing at all anymore”.
When asked if, in their opinions, students and staff felt safe here, Becker replied “I know I do [feel safe], I think that’s a random question for everybody here at Chrisman. I think everybody has their opinion about that. I know we take it very serious and we’ve taken steps to protect our kids and our staff and we’re doing everything that we can do”.
“I hope so…we’re trying to take all the precautions necessary that we’re given guidelines for,” said Adams
Talking about the process for notifying teachers and families of an exposure has changed dramatically since the start of last semester. “Communication through our nurses and Dr. Adams” said Becker.
“The way that we’re contact tracing and quarantining is different…with Omicron,” Said Adams. “When the nurse gets a positive test result of a student that’s been in school, been in a classroom, she contacts me and then I pull the rosters of all of the classes that that student has been in and then I send a mass email with a pre-prepared statement.”
However, there are some issues with this. “If you have two or more students in school, it doesn’t identify which student, so the parent has to call or respond to the email and we have to go in and investigate to determine which student it was that was exposed,” Said Adams.
We talked about the mask mandate and the effect it’s had on daily life. Mask mandates were lifted for Chrisman on November 15th of 2021. However, they were put back into effect on January 18th of 2022. “It’s a return to what we had this fall,” said Becker. When asked about if there was a foreseeable end to the mask mandate, Becker responded “There is not” and “No…no…I do not,” said Adams.