With the second semester starting up, many students fear for their health and safety. The Omicron variant runs rampant throughout the United States, spreading with no care if the individual is vaccinated. At the same time, many students are anxious about returning to quarantine and cutting the academic year short again.

Elijah Bush, a junior at Key West High School (KWHS), is not worried about getting sick. “It’s been going on for a long period of time now and I feel like if I were to get it, I would have already,” he explains. Despite that, he believes that schools might shut down if the cases keep rising.

Another junior at KWHS, Devan Bittener, is scared of what could come if she gets covid. “With the cases rising so fast, I’m a little worried about catching the virus and staying home for weeks,” she says, “I’m vaccinated and getting my booster because I do think it’ll help prevent the spread and just help prevent me from getting sick.” Bittener has had at least five close friends or family members test positive for Covid-19 in the past two weeks.

Senior Dekyus Dickerson feels pretty safe at school. “Going anywhere puts you at risk to be exposed to Covid, so I just try to be cautious and make sure I act responsibly when I am anywhere that could lead to me getting sick,” he explains, “As a school, we just need to make sure not to put ourselves or others at risk when it isn’t necessary.”

United States History teacher, Brett Fink, takes every precaution necessary to keep his students safe, such as masking up and hand-sanitizing while also keeping as much distance as possible from everyone else in the classroom. “Get vaccinated and mask up. It’s pretty simple,” Fink exclaimed.

The future is unclear as cases continue to rise. The Covid testing clinic in the KWHS parking lot is open daily after school, the line tending to wrap multiple times around the parking lot. For more information, updates are available on the CDC website and local health service providers.