Recently, COVID-19 cases have been rising at an alarming rate among Floridians, specifically, the students here at MAST Academy. There have been countless absences because students are out sick with COVID-19.
One freshman student in particular, Kaya Patterson, was out for 2 weeks because she caught the virus. In an interview with Patterson, she states it was her first time with COVID-19 and that it was “pretty bad.”
“It hurt to move; all I wanted to do was stay in bed,” Patterson said. She explained her symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, sore throat, headaches, and a fever of 103°.
The COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared over on May 11, 2023, so why is it coming back?
COVID-19 is a disease that is caused by SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) which is a virus that is highly susceptible to antigenic drift. Antigenic drift is when a virus multiplies rapidly and a small change in the virus genetically occurs. Eventually, that changed virus multiplies, causing a new strain of the said virus. There are 4 main variants: Omicron, Delta, Alpha, and Beta. There are also thousands of sub-variants all over the world.
Fortunately, experts say that we aren’t likely to see a pandemic as disastrous as the one in 2020 soon.
In an interview Dr. Anthoney Fauci had with ABC News he said he isn’t “alarmed” by the number of cases rising, however, experts are keeping an eye on it. He also recommended that people of “high risk” should get the next booster, high risk, meaning people with pre-existing health complications or the elderly, which doesn’t apply to most at MAST Academy.
