Are students safe at school with Omicron on the rise?

Ava Memarzadeh, Staff Writer

Samo’s return after winter break has led to the inevitable question of whether or not a temporary closure is necessary. With many traveling during the break, there has been a major surge in COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles. Currently, about 400 students at Samo are isolated due to COVID-19. Although this surge should be taken seriously by school officials, school closure is not the right choice. At school many precautions are being taken to prevent the spread, meaning that school doesn’t pose more of a risk than day to day tasks such as going out for a meal, going to the mall, grocery shopping, etc. 

Students regularly get tested at school and are informed when positive to prevent further spread to classmates. Furthermore, non-cloth masks are required and teachers facilitate the wearing of masks. Students are also screened everyday before entering campus to ensure students with symptoms are unable to come inside. It is also important to note the access we have to vaccines at this point, so the decision of closure wouldn’t be as necessary as the previous years. 

Most importantly, the closure of school massively stunts student learning. During online school many students saw a drop in their grades and understanding. The expectations of classes dropped and teachers weren’t able to make sure their students were paying attention. Going back to school this year vividly showed the learning gaps students had. This fact was also shown through testing scores that were compared to previous years. MiKinsey & Company analyzed the scores of the Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready in-school assessment and found that students testing in 2021 were about ten points behind in math and nine points behind in reading, compared with matched students in previous years. Having an in-person school year is imperative to mend these gaps, and if precautions are put in place, there is no reason to go online. 

 Going online also poses a negative impact on students’ mental health. During online school students felt isolated from their support system and friends, leading many to develop high levels of stress, anxiety and feelings of depression. More than 35 percent of parents were polled to be very or extremely concerned about their children’s mental health. During developmental years it is vital for kids to have social interaction, which online school would take away from. Student Gaspar Antal (’23) also highlighted the increased stress during online school and his distaste for leaving school. 

“School shouldn’t go into lockdown because it’s not necessary. I know all of us secretly want to go back to distance learning because we miss the freedom of not being in class, but all that’s going to do is frustrate the teachers, increase our workload, and make our lives more stressful,” Antal said. 

Overall, the cons of online schooling are very prevalent and too important to ignore. The students’ learning and mental well being should be prioritized, and the only way to do so is to keep in-person learning.  

Claudia Sherman, Centerspread Editor

The pandemic is ever-changing, and the school’s approach to COVID-19 safety should be too. Since the beginning of 2022, Los Angeles County has seen an exponential increase in COVID-19 cases. Currently, there are 2.32 million reported cases in the county, and there are around 22,000 new cases being reported daily. It is undeniable that the severity of the pandemic has significantly increased. This new surge in cases should come with an adapted response that prioritizes students’ health.

Since December 2021, California has seen a dramatic surge in COVID-19 cases. The number of cases has increased exponentially in recent weeks. On Dec. 17, the first day of SMMUSD’s winter break, there were 9,451 COVID-19 new cases reported in Los Angeles County. On Jan. 3, one day before the beginning of the new semester, Los Angeles County had reported 16,230 new cases. Regardless of this drastic increase, the district’s response to COVID-19 has hardly changed. Instead of pretending that things have not changed at all since December, the district should create a new response to COVID-19 that reflects the volume and severity of Omicron. SMMUSD should allow students to opt out of in-person learning, and provide adequate resources for students studying remotely, until the number of Omicron cases subsides. 

Now that COVID-19 cases are so high and every child aged five and up can receive a vaccine, there is no reason not to mandate vaccinations. Although data has shown that it is still possible to contract Omicron if vaccinated, the majority of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated. People who have received two doses and a booster of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines have significantly higher protection against severe illness, as well as significantly lower transmission rates. Without a vaccine mandate, though, it is difficult to regulate the transmission of the virus on school campuses. The absence of a vaccine mandate serves no purpose except to placate the small population of parents and students who are against vaccination. Aside from protecting the staunchly anti-science beliefs of a select few, the lack of a vaccine mandate only hurts the students. 

While perfectly abled students, staff and families may find comfort in the fact that Omicron is “about as severe as a cold,” for disabled and immunocompromised people, that simply is not the case. A perfectly healthy person will most likely come out of an Omicron infection relatively unscathed, but people with weakened immune systems and disabilities face a much more difficult reality. For some people, contracting COVID-19 can be deadly. The district’s current standpoint is that Omicron is not severe enough to warrant an adapted response. This rhetoric is incredibly harmful, though, because it pushes the idea that the lives and safety of disabled students and staff is less of a priority. 

It is simply unacceptable to continue ignoring this variant, and in order to avoid a very possible Omicron outbreak, SMMUSD should at least give students the opportunity to study remotely.