By: Bianca Pando, staff writer
During late September, an out-break circulates around Mills High School. History repeats itself with new-found illness and brings to light the new culture that encourages students to go to school while feeling sick.
Coxsackievirus A16, also known as the hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), peaks around the months of August to September due to the warmer climates, and has made rounds throughout our school. Spreading from person to person through physical contact with others (hugging, kissing, coughing, sneezing, etc.) and affected surfaces, symptoms can range from fevers to the development of painful sores and blisters around the hand, foot and mouth.
An outbreak within the school is not unheard of. Considering the lasting impacts of Covid-19, many schools try to limit the amount of illness within, making sure the appropriate measures are followed. During the pandemic, many would use masks not only to protect themselves, but to protect others as well.
Throughout this time, when one would feel sick, they would be sent home for a week or more and tested to see if COVID was still present. Overwhelmed students attempt to keep pace with the homework missed, yet many find that they cannot complete everything from home, leading to weeks worth of trying to catch up again.
Could it be the fear of the work-overloading keeping ill students at school?
When asked the question of how much time it would usually take to catch up on missing work, Janelle Pantilon (10) answered, “ It depends on how much their teacher chooses to support them, especially if the students are enrolled in AP courses. ” The fear of falling behind on classwork, and spending a long time trying to catch up, prevents students from feeling like going home is an option. Rather, this encourages students to continue pushing their physical health in order to stay on top of their studies.
While for some students, a week is more than enough to catch up, others may take up until months, and this all relies on the support the teacher is willing to provide. Some students reported that while sick, they have tried to email their teacher, who wouldn’t respond at all. Another claimed that her teacher just handed her a stack of work she missed, however she didn’t have the right materials to finish all the work. When cases like this come around more often, students start to have a fear, not for their health when they’re sick, but the school work they’ll miss.
Staff at Mills were not well informed of the HFMD until after it had already started to spread. Mr. Lira, a modern world history teacher, revealed that he wasn’t aware of the outbreak until much later: “ I didn’t know who had it because the school refused to tell us,” he explained. “ We, the teachers, received an email from the administration way later than the students started to talk about it.”
This raises concerns over district policy regarding these sensitive matters, and whether their consciously lenient enforcements are adequate in the long run.
Mills High School’s health aide, Lori Durham, voiced her unease over not knowing which students had the disease: “ I didn’t know who had it, which made it hard because I couldn’t do anything to help.” Ms. Durham supported students who sought health aid in her office during this time, and she made flyers informing Mills families about the disease, including symptoms and information on what to do if they had it.
Not only has this pulled a toll on the staff, but many students shared a similar feeling towards those who continued to come to school while under the weather. “I feel more exposed because I was around people who I later found out had it,” Lori Kwong (10) expressed. She believes that, similar to having COVID-19, those who have it should stay home for the sake of not only themselves, but others as well. Another student, Janelle Pantilon (10) also voiced her opinion about how the school handled the outbreak, commending the later post-exposure action to send students home after evaluating that they “were not in a condition to be at school.”
Until then, not only for the safety of the students who have it, but also for those who don’t, continue to stay home until you’re back to good health. Keep school healthy for all students and staff.
