Author Spotlight
Jilli Foley
EAST/LOCAL
Since more cities like San Diego and Chicago have been dealing with the latest outbreaks of the coronavirus, citizens have been stocking up on face masks and hand sanitizer to shield themselves from a possible outbreak in the East area.
In an email sent to the SMSD administration and staff, SMSD communications stated that a team of SMSD staff is working closely with the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment (JCDHE) to provide updates through emails to the community. The goal is to make sure that if the virus reaches the nearby community, the district is prepared.
The district will be staying up-to-date with federal communications from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in addition to educating the community about it by informative emails to parents and staff.
Currently, the district isn’t panicking about the schools being infected from the low rates of severe infection towards younger people, but are proceeding to plan for the future if it were to come closer to the community.
East nurse Stephanie Ptacek says she hasn’t been informed of any specific procedures to follow if a student comes in with symptoms.
“Since the symptoms are much like the flu, I wouldn’t be able to determine unless I asked about travel history,” Ptecek said. “So I would be really more suspicious of the flu.”
The SMSD District sent another email regarding the coronavirus, stating that as the coronavirus begins to spread into our part of the country, teachers will instruct students who are anxious or scared to visit the nurse for assistance.
The on-going spread of this virus has cancelled many student’s spring break trips internationally to less-infected locations inside the U.S.
Additionally, East’s choir program is currently planning on taking 180 people to Austria, Hungary and Czech Republic, which has raised some health concerns from parents and kids.
“I’m worried that one of us is going to get it, which would probably result to all of us being quarantined,” junior Austin Housley said. “It makes me feel scared and uneducated if the worst were to happen.”
Right now the CDC has still permitted travel in those countries, but according to choir director Ken Foley, the school will continue contact with the CDC and their travel agency to determine if the countries are still safe to travel to.
“[The CDC] could find it’s not as dangerous as they thought or that it could be everywhere making more of a chance of getting stuck [in quarantine] somewhere cause of travel restrictions,” Foley said.
As of right now, the CDC has stated the countries the choir trip will be going to are safe enough to not cancel. The district has set up a meeting for the students traveling to be educated on this virus, giving them packets of instructions and procedures for the trip.
Though the outbreak of the coronavirus has now spread to the U.S., districts like SMSD have been proactive with the preparation of the future.
NATIONAL
The government is taking precautions for this coronavirus epidemic to protect the economy and American citizens.
In a press conference president Donald Trump held on Feb. 29, he discussed the preparation for the coronavirus reaching the US. Trump stated the risk of outbreak for coronavirus in America remains low even with some cases already present.
As of March 4, over 50 and rising cases have been reported in different states including California, New York and Washington. The death toll in America has increased to 11 deaths due to the coronavirus and could rise every day.
Vice President Mike Pence said at the conference the CDC would be releasing new guidelines for quicker testing towards people who are displaying mild symptoms.
Many flights back to the U.S. have been canceled in order to prevent the coronavirus from getting to America.
The CDC warned U.S. citizens to prepare for an outbreak of the virus, but Trump remarked on the situation as “very well under control in our country.” He believes the country has made an effective response from other countries issue that they will be ready to adapt if any outbreak spreads towards us.
Junior Kaleb Hagg believes that canceling travel plans to prevent a spreading of the virus is smart.
“I think it’s decreasing our chance of the outbreak because not many people want to go to where the coronavirus is to bring it back,” Hagg said.
At the meeting, Trump placed Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the federal response efforts and the country’s containment towards the predicted epidemic.
U.S. lawmakers reach a deal of 8.3 billon for an emergency coronavirus bill. The White House will use this to contain the virus and do medical research to help find ways to prevent it from getting worse.
Federal health officials and the CDC are ultimately preparing for a potential pandemic that could disrupt lives, and close schools, forcing people to stay home that could start an economic decline.
INTERNATIONAL
Since the last week of February, the coronavirus has spread across the globe, infecting every continent except Antarctica.
Within the past two weeks, the level of risk for the coronavirus within Europe has been raised from moderate to high, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The death toll around the world has swept past 3,000 and is continuing to rise.
Its rapid spread pushed governments to introduce emergency measures like quarantine and reducing travel to prevent the progression of the epidemic by stopping travel in and out of certain countries including China and parts of Northern Italy.
With the concerns surrounding traveling to Europe, WorldStrides, a global travel agency, has developed plans of relocation to safer, secure places when traveling to European countries.
“With regards to the coronavirus, our team has diligently stayed alert of all updates and travel reports by the CDC and the World Health Organization since the news broke out months ago,” head of WorldStrides Frank Davis said.
Over 50 years of travel, the agency has been through dilemma with illnesses like Ebola and other outbreaks conflicting with their tours and traveling groups. In the past month, they have dealt with groups traveling to China, which then immediately re-routed the group to a more safer itinerary — the same itinerary the East choir trip is going on March 12th.
“The safety and well-being of our travelers are our highest priority,” Davis said. “Therefore, we continuously monitor and research into any possible situation that could affect our tours.”
Daily, the CDC informs their recommendations of travel between different countries. They use watch levels from practicing usual safety precautions when traveling to avoiding all essential travel to more infected countries.
Travel is still available mostly, but if the sickness keeps spreading unexpectedly, countries will go into quarantine until the virus is terminated. Most countries in Europe have seen some infection from the coronavirus, but they’re increasing research to slow down the spread until it gets out of control.
Leave a Reply