Even two years into the pandemic, COVID-19 is still at the forefront of many American lives. As of January 2022, there have been over 350 million confirmed cases and over 5.5 million COVID-related deaths worldwide; Virginia alone has experienced over 1.5 million cases. Although more than 70% of Virginians have received a vaccine, many still question the validity of public health safety measures, such as masking and vaccinations, oftentimes leading to a politicization of the issue. On his first day in office, Virginia’s new governor, Glenn Youngkin, issued an executive order that made wearing masks in schools optional. Many school districts stood firmly against Youngkin’s order and continued to enforce masks. However, the power to execute these decisions did not necessarily still reside in the hands of school boards. Maggie Walker, however, is not one of these districts; parents can request to opt-out and have their child not wear a mask. Currently, about a dozen parents have made this request, leading many masked students to describe their feelings at school as “scared” and “uncomfortable.” 

A significant contributing factor for this newfound fear, other than unmasked students, is the spike of COVID-19 cases due to the new Omicron variant, which has a devastatingly high transmission rate due to its ability to thrive on human skin and plastic surfaces for several days. Omicron is about 2.7-3.7 times more transmissible than the previously prominent Delta strain in vaccinated and boosted people. As a result of the rise of the Omicron variant, many students at Maggie Walker do not feel protected at school, including Hasika Aaravabhoomi (‘25). “The new variant and spike in COVID cases is very concerning,” she said. “It’s made it difficult to come to school every day and still feel safe.”  

Maggie Walker’s school nurse, Ms. Alisa Shapiro, noted that the symptoms of Omicron cases are different from previous strains, observing a trend of sore throats and nausea with COVID-positive students. Positive cases of COVID are surfacing left and right at Maggie Walker, with an average of 2-3 new cases daily. These new cases peaked at six on one day, January 17. It should be noted that these cases were mainly unrelated to school-based exposures but instead related to community-based ones, which signifies that students are contracting the virus through interactions with unmasked individuals near or at home.

To pinpoint exposed individuals, Shapiro uses contact tracing, informing students who were near a classmate who received a positive COVID test. This scenario is referred to as a close contact, or when a student is within three feet of a masked positive case for greater than 15 minutes or within six feet of an unmasked positive case for any amount of time. 

Once a student tests positive, they are immediately asked to provide Shapiro with a list of names that they remember being close around, masked or unmasked. Lunchtime, specifically, is a prominent time for close contacts, as many students are unmasked in large groups. Although it may seem like contact tracing would be heavily inaccurate, Shapiro says students are “great about filling in those blanks.” After the student who tested positive provides a complete list of exposed classmates, Shapiro then contacts the student’s teachers and asks for their seating charts. 

The final step in this process is ensuring that these exposed students have not contracted the virus. Shapiro looks up the vaccination status of all exposed students and immediately sends home those who are not vaccinated. Shapiro then also sends them information regarding testing and self-monitoring for vaccinated students for potential COVID symptoms. 

There are also many preventative measures that Maggie Walker has set. For example, the school strongly suggests that students and staff wear masks and recommends students to stay at home if they are not feeling well and visit the nurse if they start to feel ill at school. However, the school has not been able to enforce the spacing out of students, as many classrooms are small. Additionally, due to supply chain issues during the pandemic, Maggie Walker was unable to offer rapid COVID tests—Shapiro could not distribute tests to exposed students because the school’s supply of tests was so low. 

Currently, Shapiro and school administrators are working on several new systems to combat the spread of the virus. One of these systems is a screening protocol targeted towards athletes, the end goal being a weekly screening test for those who play sports at Maggie Walker. These screening tests would use a PCR test instead of an antigen test to provide a greater accuracy due to their more sensitive properties. Using this procedure will allow greater assurance that athletes will be safe from the virus while competing in a game or meet. “Test to Stay” is another program being developed, which would allow unvaccinated students to attend school safely and have minimal disruptions to daily life because of daily COVID testing.

If these preventative measures fail because COVID cases have gone to an extreme, the only viable option would be to continue school virtually. In March 2020, during the first relatively major outbreak of COVID-19, school districts in Virginia first closed down schools for two weeks. Those two weeks turned into two months, and those two months turned into a year and a half without in-person instruction. 

Junior Sanika Rewatkar felt that virtual school was “appropriate for the crisis we were in,” but explained that there were not many opportunities for interactions with peers, making learning “somewhat difficult.” Another junior, Viktor Newby, felt that there was no gain from virtual learning and that it was “impossible to actually learn.” Newby also added that there was little connection between students and the teacher with virtual learning. 

However, MLWGS Director Dr. Robert Lowerre believes that it is very improbable that COVID would force students back into virtual learning. In fact, Virginia now has a law stating that all schools must stay in-person. Additionally, students and faculty are strongly recommended to wear masks, especially important with Omicron since the transmission rate is higher than Delta and other strains. However, not all masks are created equal, and some are more effective than others. Specific masks, such as N95 and KN95, have proven to filter out more harmful particles, particularly with the Omicron variant, than medical masks. If wearing N95 or KN95 masks is not possible, wearing two medical or cloth masks is also a worthy option. During lunch, when masks are down or off, separating from others prevents infection from COVID since these airborne particles cannot travel far distances. 

Wearing a mask or masks help with protection against aerosol COVID particles, but when it comes to particles on physical surfaces, the best way to prevent the spread is to wash hands regularly. This basic but effective method removes germs from skin surfaces, which means it is less likely for one to spread the virus around their communities at home or school. 

During this stressful time, though, Shapiro emphasizes that people should stay understanding and sympathetic. It is impossible for no one to contract COVID, and Shapiro says that the virus “shouldn’t be something that we’re embarrassed to talk about.” The best thing to do currently is to not lose hope and continue trying to avoid contracting the virus. Even with all the preventative measures, students and faculty can still contract COVID, and Shapiro says those people should not be “ostracized or whispered behind.” Instead, showing compassion and concern towards that person is essential; asking if they feel fine and suggesting that they should check with the nurse if they are not feeling well creates “a caring, nurturing environment where people should feel comfortable coming to [the nurse] or talking to their teachers.” 

Lowerre acknowledges the setback from the pandemic and states that his mission is to restore school life to how it was before the pandemic struck. “We all want to get back to where we can see each other’s faces and do the things that we love without always worrying about either catching COVID or passing it along to someone else,” he said. “Stay in the fight. I see a light at the end of the tunnel!”