COVID-19 at Samo: New year, new rules
Sydney Roker, Staff Writer
Many Samo students returned to school after winter break uncertain of what the next few weeks would hold, or if schools would continue to stay open for in-person instruction due to the new Omicron surge.
Despite this uncertainty, SMMUSD school and district administrators have made clear that they are doing everything possible to ensure that schools remain open. O-House Principal Tristan Komlos touched on the effects that last year’s distance learning had on students.
“The 18 months of online learning that we did have taught us that it is detrimental to kids’ learning and mental health,” Komlos said.
During the first week back from winter break, Samo reached its highest ever total of COVID-19 cases in one week, with 257 students and staff members testing positive and even more staying home due to exposure or as a safety precaution, according to the SMMUSD website and emails sent by Superintendent Ben Drati. Staying home from school during the first two weeks of the semester was a more feasible option for many students because SMMUSD’s attendance policy was altered during this time, allowing student’s absences to be excused in response to the high number of COVID-19 cases. This contributed to an average of over 900 daily student absences in the first week following winter break, according to district sources.
In addition to the temporary changes to the attendance policy and based on Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) recommendations, SMMUSD administrators have reduced the quarantine time to five days for both students and staff members who test positive for COVID-19 but have been fully vaccinated. Such students and staff may return to campus on the 6th day with a negative antigen test. Since the booster has become eligible for everyone ages 12 and up, Samo students must now have their booster to be considered fully vaccinated.
Nearly 90 percent of Samo students have received at least their first two vaccine doses, according to Samo Principal Dr. Antonio Shelton, and district clinics are currently being set up to provide students with first and second vaccine doses and booster shots. The first of these SMMUSD vaccine clinics took place on Jan. 8, at McKinley Elementary School.
Samo’s COVID-19 tests are currently administered by the company DoctorNow, which gives each Samo student and staff member a weekly PCR test. Although antigen and PCR tests are both accurate ways to detect COVID-19, PCR tests will pick up a COVID-19 infection earlier than an antigen test will because the PCR tests are more sensitive to the virus. Results of the PCR tests administered to Samo are received by students and staff members typically a day after the test is taken, but the recent surge impacted the speed of the results.
Despite relative smoothness and reliability of the testing operation, not all Samo students are in favor of weekly COVID-19 testing.
“I think that weekly COVID-19 tests are unnecessary. The danger from COVID-19 is comparable to other diseases such as the flu,” said Casper Holden (’24).
Jessica Wade, who had been Samo’s nurse since the start of the 2021 school year, resigned from the position on Jan. 18. Wade was responsible for informing students and staff members if they received a positive COVID-19 test and for conducting COVID-19 contact tracing. With the surplus of COVID-19 cases post winter break, Samo has no longer been contact tracing, but a licensed vocational nurse and a substitute nurse have been hired to manage the COVID-19 protocols that were previously handled by Wade, and a district nurse was hired to handle emails. Samo is currently trying to find a permanent nurse to replace Wade, Shelton said.
To the disappointment of many Samo students, changes have also been made to music, theatre and sports programs in order to adhere to COVID-19 protocols. The Samo Band’s winter concert, which was supposed to take place on Jan. 14 was cancelled, and Samo’s spring musical, “Legally Blonde”, has been postponed from its original show dates in late Feb. to the middle of March.
Additionally, many sporting events were canceled during the first few weeks after winter break, and spectators at games and meets have been limited. All sports with the exception of swim and water polo were recommended to return to wearing masks during practices, and Samo sports teams are also required to take a seven day pause from team training if there is an outbreak on any team of four or more positive COVID-19 tests, a rule that complies with LACDPH. Thus far, Samo’s wrestling, swim, boys’ basketball, baseball, softball and track teams have had to pause their team training, in which athletes cannot share equipment and are recommended to train outside.
Despite these rules, Samo sports programs have been able to find ways to safely train. Wrestling, for example, continued training by running and doing outdoor stairs at the Greek, basketball chose to do individual skill training in the gym and track and swim have had their teams break up into smaller groups and train in pods.
Currently, all sporting events are required to ask for proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for anyone who comes to watch an indoor sport. As of Monday, Jan. 31, a message on the Samo boys’ basketball Instagram page, said that 300 tickets for their home game against Palos Verdes were available to all students, staff, and families.
PCR tests are so sensitive that they detect COVID-19 even after it is no longer active.