After a couple of years, COVID-19 has come to an end. Everyone believes COVID-19 is gone. Some think it is only a cold now. Today however, COVID-19 cases are spiking again in the U.S and affecting schools all over the nation. Due to COVID-19, this will impact students and staff by affecting students’ learning, keeping them from attending school, and being absent. Teachers will be required to stay at home and miss class lectures.

COVID-19 was a shocking sudden obstacle for everyone. Everything has gone back to normal after school districts revised class safety on campus to prevent COVID-19. Schools don’t require mask wearing or social distancing anymore. Now that COVID-19 has returned, it has set many people’s lives in danger. According to The Los Angeles Times school districts in Los Angeles faced an increase of COVID-19 cases by 45%. Students’ learning environment will change if they constantly have to miss school because of this cause.

Freshman and junior counselor Arlene Quinonez shared her thoughts on COVID-19 returning to schools.

“(I) feel like it is at a rise again, we should become aware and more cautious. COVID-19 is kind of, always going to be there,” Quinonez said.

If COVID-19 returns to schools, students will face the challenges of becoming infected and be forced to stay home and miss important information given in class.

“Because it spreads so fast, students will often stay home, and that means they are missing instruction. Although everything is online, they are still missing out on lessons from the teacher, getting to ask questions in person and missing quizzes, until they fall behind, and that causes stress to the student on top of being sick,” Quinonez said.

If a student misses too many lessons they will be behind on everything else they need to do, leading to missing assignments and grades going down quickly before they can recover.

Freshman Mars Gonsalez expressed their thoughts on COVID-19.

“I feel neutral about COVID-19. Like, it happens,” said Gonsalez.

Everyone has different strategies for fighting against COVID-19. According to the Mayo Clinic the best ways to prevent COVID-19 is washing your hands, not touching your face, wearing a face mask, cleaning your environment and to stay clear from sick people directly.

MCHS Attendance Manager Jessica Muro notes the amount of days to stay at home if exposed to COVID-19.

“If you’re really sick, stay home. If you are tested positive for COVID, you have to stay at home for five or more days, depending on the situation,” Muro said.

Protecting yourself makes a good impact on everyone on campus. Quinonez carries on about what she did to prevent herself from COVID-19.

“I did get the COVID-19 vaccine, I got the booster as well, I feel like those are measures to prevent COVID-19. I have masks in my drawer in case I ever need them, I make sure to wash my hands often, I have hand sanitizer in my office for students and myself. Having those little things as well for students and ourselves,” Quinonez said.

These methods are good ways to prevent COVID-19 to yourself and others. Lots of school districts have posters around campus. A well known poster called “Before You Go To The Health Office” lists the things you should consider before going to the health office, but many of them are about hand washing, mask wearing, and social distancing.

“The custodian has been doing a good job wiping stuff off and cleaning. We should clean up after ourselves, it definitely helps prevent germs,” Muro said.

Middle College High School has hand sanitizer in every classroom, masks, and barriers in the front office for anyone who needs them, just in case.

“We can also maybe work at bringing more awareness because sometimes it feels like it’s gone, but it is still out there,” Quinonez said.

At this point, everyone should be aware of what COVID-19 could cause. Even today people still write about COVID-19. Also, medical assistants and scientists are still researching the virus; just because we aren’t seeing as many cases does not mean that the virus is no longer a threat. It also does not mean it is completely gone forever.

“Don’t get COVID-19,” said Gonsalez.