Omicron Looms Amid Loosening Regulations

As the winter season approaches, a new wave of Covid is very possible to approach along with it. Cases are already surging and with this new and deadly variant rapidly spreading, things might make a turn for the worse. The Omicron variant is very real and has more mutations than any scientist has ever seen, including some that are resistant to any immunity previously built up from the vaccines or other infections. 

On Nov. 24, the Omicron variant was announced by South Africa. Since then, just a couple days later, the first Omicron case was reported in the Bay Area. The person who tested positive for the variant had just returned from a trip to South Africa and was fully vaccinated, but had not yet received the booster. Health officials said that the person has mild symptoms, and has not yet been hospitalized. 

“We don’t know enough right now, I always look at how fast the variant spreads and that tells me a lot about the susceptibility of a community, it’s not for me too much about the severity right now, because it goes back to those fundamental behaviours of protection,” said health teacher Sue Anderson when asked about this new variant and any new precautions. 

The government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said that a new Covid-19 wave is very possible during the winter, but that vaccinations are the best way to combat another spike. Currently, only 58.9% of the U.S population is fully vaccinated against the virus. Meanwhile, there is a plan for a new vaccine mandate to be put into action in California schools. Eighty five percent of CVHS students agreed with this mandate when asked. 

A majority of the people who disapproved of the mandate gave the reason that at this age teens don’t really have full control even if they want to get vaccinated. It’s very common for a teen to want to get vaccinated, but their parents won’t allow them too. Then, those students don’t get to enjoy school like all their peers because of a decision their parents made. Despite this, a popular counter is that this mandate could be that extra push some parents need to allow their kids to get vaccinated.

“Yes, I approve because it’s for the safety of everyone and by getting the vaccine hopefully we can start to get back to our normal lives again. We’ve come really far and it would be over faster if everyone got vaccinated,” said sophomore Annabelle Everson. 

“Disease should never be politicized, because disease impacts people and animals and the planet. The disease is the enemy and we have to understand that enemy. But we do need to know enough and work collectively regardless of where we are politically because that should be assigned,” Anderson expressed.

Along with that, the school distinct has given CVHS approval for visitors on campus and single day field trips. Overnight field trips may follow soon. “For each of these functions, our focus will, of course, be on safety. The two primary ways we need to do this is to verify vaccination status of individuals where noted, and be able to conduct contact tracing and implement surveillance testing when required,” Principal Blaine Torpey said.

This new variant, which most likely won’t be the last, could possibly change a lot for the CVHS students and staff’s future. There will continually be new changes that people will have to learn to adapt to.