Sickness is Striking

By: Brylee Shafer

Last year with the coronavirus pandemic, everyone was required to wear masks. Because of this, hardly anyone was sick with the common cold or the usual viral illnesses that typically plague the population. In fact, only 0.2% of clinical samples tested positive for influenza during the COVID-10 pandemic according to the Cleveland Clinic. 

Most students remained healthy and happy, or at least as happy as you can be during a worldwide pandemic. During the first quarter of 2020, with 213 students in the high school and junior high, there were a total of 245 absences. This year at the same time, we have a total of 164 absences out of the 222 students on the high school side of DT. While the numbers were almost doubled due to the pandemic, a large number of those absences were due to students having to quarantine without getting sick. 

“I had to quarantine when I showed no symptoms, or indication of the virus. I had to quarantine twice and never caught the virus or showed symptoms,” said senior Haley Robb. 

In 2020, according to a study conducted at the Cleveland Clinic, there was a large decrease in the spread of respiratory illnesses. The CDC states that the 2020-2021 flu season was low due to the mask mandates. Due to masks not being required this year, germs are spreading worldwide, which is causing students and staff to get sick in schools. Hand foot and mouth, strep and sinus infection are just a few of the sicknesses that have been spreading around DT. We have had only a few cases of COVID this year, but everyone seems to have a sniffle, a cough or a sore throat. 

“It seems like last year people were only sick with COVID; this year it seems like everyone is sick with everything else,” said senior Emma Saathoff. 

We were so used to wearing masks and having them protect us from germs and viruses.  If you had symptoms of the common cold, your mask stopped the spread of the cold. This year, people are coming to school with the symptoms, but without masks the germs are spreading throughout the school. 

According to Dr. Vyas at the Cleveland Clinic, “part of it is due to the easing of pandemic restrictions. We’re not socially distant as much as we were, we don’t wear our masks as often as we used to, and we are now meeting people in more crowded spaces.”

Daily temperature checks were also required last year to get into the school building, and if a student had a fever, they were sent home. Now, if a student has a fever, they can come to school without any screening. If this happens, the student can spread their sick germs throughout the school, potentially infecting other students and staff. 

Just because Covid isn’t being as carefully guarded against, it doesn’t mean that sicknesses and all of the precautions we took should go away. We still need to wash our hands, use hand sanitizer and stay home when sick.