On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19, a virus that had started in Wuhan City, China. Two days later, the U.S. went into a nationwide shutdown. Several people in the U.S. have expressed the stress and change since the start of the pandemic. 

While the number of cases rise in schools, students are quarantined for a maximum of 10 days if exposed. As for students, in-person and virtual learning continues, impacting several students’ lives. 

“I think it’s had a huge impact,” sophomore Jacob Ceglar said. “For one part, I did not get to see my teachers or friends for a good part of my eighth grade school year. The process of going virtual also had an impact in terms of not being able to learn properly. Of course, COVID-19 here at school ranges from worries to jokes.”

“It’s definitely been more stressful,” sophomore Meleah Lang said. “I don’t want to say I’ve become more lazy as a student but I kind of have. For example, not turning work in on time because we spent a year at home and due dates weren’t really set and everything was really relaxed.”

Students have gone back and forth between in-person and virtual learning since March 2020. 

“Speaking from myself, it wasn’t as hard for me as it was for a lot of other people,” sophomore Julianna Squires said. “I’ve kind of adapted to it quickly, but I know a lot of my other friends didn’t really grasp it. For me, at least, I grasped it a little faster than other people would’ve, but it was still pretty difficult.” 

Some are still struggling to get back on track. 

“It’s been rather difficult,” Ceglar said. “I personally enjoy in person learning better because virtual learning is distant, and you don’t get to interact with people. You know half of the class falls asleep while they’re online, and class runs much slower when teachers ask questions. It takes so long because they can’t see who’s awake or not.”

Since then, the district has gone back to wearing masks due to the mask mandate of all schools in Pennsylvania placed by Governor Tom Wolf. 

“Definitely not the social distancing because we do not follow that but the masks for the most part, everyone has worn them,” Lang said. “Some kids are still getting quarantined but not as many as last year.”

“I don’t think it’s helped a lot just because we don’t really enforce social distance at lunch because we’re all sitting next to each other unmasked and with masks; they don’t really tell people to pull them up as much,” Squires said. “They just let people go, so I feel like if they enforce it more, it would work a lot better.”

Check out recent news on the COVID-19 virus: 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/

World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/WTAJ: https://www.wearecentralpa.com/