This school year, COVID-19 restrictions have loosened, no longer requiring students to quarantine after being in contact with someone who has had the virus.
“Right now for students, COVID is being treated more or less like every other virus. Of course, our preference is for people to test and let us know if they have COVID… However, for staff, their guidelines are different, and they have to isolate for five days,” said Health Services Assistant Pam Lucero.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019, students have been required to quarantine after being exposed to someone infected with the virus. However, according to California For All, quarantining is no longer a necessary strategy against COVID-19.
“There is a healthy amount of precaution, but it’s not as bad as it used to be. I would say that what we had last year about quarantining yourself if you had COVID-19, that was a pretty good system,” said Raghav Sreekumar (‘25).
Many students, including Sreekumar, acknowledge that COVID-19 poses much less of a public health hazard than it once did, especially after vaccines became widespread. However, the pandemic’s effects still linger in the ways students live their lives.
“It’s affected my life pretty significantly. I never had COVID, but I know that it affected many of my family members. I feel to some extent, restrictions should be lowered a little bit,” said Aaryan Patel (‘25).
Despite COVID-19 being less of a hazard to public health at Amador Valley, it is still important to take care of one’s health. This involves staying home from school if one experiences flu-like symptoms such as fever, vomiting, or diarrhea.
“I think the concern should be the same as you had before COVID, for any other illness. It’s a good idea to try to stay healthy, and that means: get a good rest, eat a good diet, exercise, and get out in the sunshine to get good vitamin D levels,” said Lucero.
