Omicron, the new variant of COVID-19, has been spreading rapidly through many countries, at a significantly higher rate than the cases of COVID-19 per day. Even if people are vaccinated or don’t have symptoms, the virus still manages to spread to others. 

“Omicron is not as deadly as the original covid variant so it’s there’s slightly less worry, however, it will certainly affect more people,” sophomore Zadrian Souza said. “Compared to Covid, your chances of getting sick, vary on how resistant you are, but the chances of dying is a lot slimmer.” 

Just when COVID-19 seemed to almost finally diminish from the world, when high hopes for a new beginning to a potentially great year occurred, a new variant, Omicron, emerged. Unfortunately, Omicron spreads far more rapidly than COVID-19 but isn’t as fatal.  

“I thought COVID was close to ending, but then the variant, Omicron came out,” sophomore Jabari Neal said. “I feel as if nothing has changed whenever Omicron was announced, there haven’t been any new precautions to take because they are the same precautions as during covid.”

COVID-19 has been lurking around for almost 4 years, which is around how long it has taken humanity to eventually adjust to the pandemic. There haven’t been many adjustments to the normal precautions for when Omicron instantly spread.

“When Omicron began, some of my family members got sick,” junior Sai Duddu said. “After my mom got sick, she couldn’t cook in the house, which sucked. She couldn’t go work and had to go to the hospital often, it really affected us emotionally.”

Casualties are commencing as the spread rates of Omicron are rapidly increasing. Many are suffering the consequences of encountering the disease, leading to struggles within families. In addition, the amount of infection rate overall has drastically changed.

“Omicron is far more infectious than other varieties however the severity of the illness itself is a lot less significant, especially for the vaccinated,” Science Teacher Amanda Mosier said. “Omicron does seem to infect a lot of the young. Everyone seems fed up with all the precautions, so most don’t seem to really care.”