COVID-19 in OHS
OHS nurses working hard dealing with COVID-19
April 30, 2021
COVID-19 was introduced to Owatonna High School last year in the spring of 2020. OHS went to an all online program for the rest of the year as COVID-19 began to spread throughout America. In the fall of 2020 OHS returned to school as a hybrid model. With coming back to school there have been many new restrictions put in place. Students that tested positive have to quarantine for ten days. The OHS nurses ask certain questions like who they rode to school with, who they ate lunch with, and their extra curricular activities. The person’s family is then out for 14 days. Kids that were closely contacted with the person that tested positive have a chance to be tested if the test is negative and they have zero symptoms they can return after seven days.
OHS junior Jacob Reinardy tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, March 8. He was sent home from school from being in close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. At the time, Reinardy had no symptoms of the virus, however, he went to get tested as soon as possible thinking he would be negative and be back to wrestling once the test came back. Unfortunately the next day, Reinardy found out he was positive for COVID-19 and was out of school for ten days. While Reinardy was out he said, I had very little symptoms, I was surprised because I never really got as sick as I thought I would. Reinardy was not able to do much because he could not leave his house and was very bored at home. Luckily, Reinardy was able to return for individual wrestling sections on Thursday, March 18.
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An OHS junior was diagnosed with COVID-19 the same week as Reinardy. He and some of his close friends were out of school for two weeks. They were also not able to continue their sports for two weeks However, he did get more sick than Reinardy being super sick for one day but nothing close to life threatening. He was also bored during quarantine as he was not able to do much at home.
Senior Courtney Kath had COVID-19 back in January of this year. Her and her friends got COVID-19 around the same time so they would face time during the time they were quarantined. She said, “I never lost my taste but I did lose my scent and I cannot smell certain things still.” During the time Kath always wanted to do things and was never really tired like the rest of her friends. Binge watching Netflix helped Kath make it through quarantine.
While being out with COVID-19 can cause students to fall behind on school work. Students at OHS have work that is mostly all online and can be done from home. Teachers are very understanding with their students that are gone and make sure they stay on track so when they come back to school they are not too far behind if at all. Always keep in mind if not feeling well or even have a mild cold stay home from school and get a test to be safe rather than sorry.
