Interviewer: Eleanor Cho

Interviewees: Ayesha Satpathy (10), Naimah Rehman (11), Eakshitha Veeramallu (9)

“What are your thoughts on the current surge of omicron cases?”

“It’s pretty scary. So many of my friends got covid and its really hard to stop the flow.” – Veeramallu

“I think that this peak was expected to occur but due to some precautions not taken seriously, we were not prepared.” – Satpathy

“My current thoughts on the omicron variant are that it’s really scary. I feel like a lot of people are going to get the virus, but the good thing is that the symptoms aren’t as serious compared to other variants. I think it’s gonna get worse before it gets better, and that a lot of people are probably spreading it because they don’t even know they have it.” – Rehman

“In what ways is your life affected by the omicron variant?”

“Well, for sure, I have had very little social interaction with people and so my socializing skills got affected greatly. I also feel scared to be too close to my friends especially since a lot of their friends got covid.” – Veeramallu

“I think some activities such as social gatherings have definitely been restricted for me. Also, a lot of close family and friends have been testing positive with the variant so we have to take additional precautions.” – Satpathy

“My life has been affected in that I’m definitely a lot better about wearing my mask now. Before winter break, I still wore my mask but I was more relaxed about it than I should have been. During the break, a lot of my extended family visited from out of state and almost everyone got covid. They had also visited in the summer of 2021, and thankfully we all stayed healthy, so I think everyone was less scared about it when they came last month especially because we’re all vaccinated. Some people were asymptomatic and some weren’t but considering how transmissible this variant was, I think most of us got it. It was the first time anyone in my close family got covid, so it was pretty scary but luckily everyone recovered in a few days. Because of that, I’m definitely more cautious and paranoid than ever.” – Rehman

“Do you think the school is doing enough to protect students from this new variant? Why or why not?”

“I think the school is doing its hardest by asking us to wear masks and placing distance between desks in at least a few classes.” – Veeramallu 

“I think the school had taken the precautions that it could but now it’s mostly up to the students to maintain a sanitary environment.” – Satpathy

“I think the school is doing as much as they can because at the end of the day they can’t force people to wear masks or social distance or get vaccinated. I think the covid testing site that they opened was a really beneficial idea because it takes around 5 days to get an appointment for a covid test right now. I think there will be a ton of cases from school like even now so many people are absent because of covid but it’s practically inevitable in our school’s environment. I think the best thing people can do is wear the mask everywhere they can and social distance as much as possible. Overall, I think the school is doing the best they can and as long as people do they’re part, I think we’ll get past this variant.” – Rehman