As we all know, the COVID-19 virus has derailed our high school careers in many ways and shifted the course of most everything in life for the past couple of years. Though many waves have passed and many variants of this illness, our country has made positive steps to prevent the spread. Unfortunately, during the month of January, COVID-19 has had a large uptick in cases and, according to the Mayo Clinic, the positive test rate for the nation in November was between 5 and 7 percent, and, as of January 9th our positive test rate has skyrocketed to almost 29 percent. 

The month of January has ticked upward in case count, Fruita Monument and the district is pushed to make a change to adapt. Fruita Monument High School has had to send out numerous emails and quarantine orders as the Coronavirus cases are spreading like wildfire amongst high school students, a phenomenon that had not occurred as much in the earlier part of the year. On the District 51 COVID-19 dashboard, a bell curve is seen, our case count has jumped then plummeted through the month of January, leaving us back into a similar case count as seen January 2021. On January 19th there were 50 known positive student cases while on the 26th, only one positive current case is known of.

The CDC has altered their guidelines for the coronavirus pandemic by decreasing the amounts of time needed to wear a mask, quarantine, and take time away to withhold the spreading of the virus. We are beginning to see a correlation, as this week since masks have been mandated, our case count has dropped significantly.

COVID 19 has been responsible for many causes of dismay amongst students, athletes, teachers, etc. in the highschool environment as coronavirus has been filling the schools. In response to this, many high schools including Fruita Monument have required masking due to the 2.2 percent positivity rate within the school. The new policy requires a ten days minimum of masks and may continue if the positivity rate does not decrease to below one percent for a consecutive five days, Fruita Monument students are required to wear masks until the 27th of January at a minimum, but it is possible that they will be required much longer than that. 

After just two days of masking, our positivity rate has dropped from 2.2 percent to 1.5 percent as of January 24th according to the District 51 dashboard. Noelle Simcox, a Junior at Fruita Monument states that “masks are very important in our school at certain times because they help drop our positivity rates, but I really hope we can go back to normal soon.” Many students share this concern of wanting normalcy back, but we can also see hope for 2022. Now, we are struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel but perhaps with new precautions, we will come back quicker and have a reset in this upsetting period of schooling. Though corona virus appears to be an upsetting, repeating cycle throughout our entire high school career, if these mandates and guidelines are followed and individuals are mindful, the spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic may be manageable within schools. January 2022 had a large spike of covid cases, but many students and teachers are watching the dashboard closely in hopes for normalcy back as the year progresses.