The Pandemic known as COVID-19 has added a major impact on students around the ERHS community. The virus has really taken a toll on the lives of the students. Students have to practice social distancing, wear masks to go outside, and stay a bit farther from each other incase something serious happens like getting the virus. As of right now the CDC is currently working on a vaccine for everyone, including adults, teens, and children. The vaccine will take months to be developed and given to everyone who needs it because vaccines take a lot of time to develop. 

Sophomore Jennifer Lui said hope for the vaccine helps her “stay away from people who could potentially have the virus and it also impacts the school because when you go back to school you, won’t get sick easily due to the virus.” As I was interviewing Lui, her statement makes it seems as if she is adjusting and getting used to the situation that will soon pass. Senior Sigrid Aliping has also responded to how the vaccine would help her by saying “Yes, because I would be able to fly home to my home country and visit my family, as well as my relatives in other states whom I haven’t had the chance to see for months. Overall, seeing and hugging my family would totally help with my mental health, since everything seems so gloomy at the moment.” Another question that I asked Aliping about is how the vaccine would impact her school and home life. She responded by saying that “The vaccine would increase my chances of going out as well as attending my classes without being so anxious of catching COVID-19. It would make my life better and also happier than it is now.” I also asked both of the students if they are keeping up with Covid-19 vaccine news and they responded yes because “it’s important to keep up with news that could impact the world”. Students can spread diseases more easily than adults because of them running around and getting in contact easily but getting the vaccine can get parents back to their daily jobs. A writer from the New York Times name Carl Zimmer has stated in his article that a vaccine for students is important “both because of the role children play in spreading disease and because we need to get children back to school for the sake of their working parents”. Our school environment is getting affected by COVID-19, preventing us from seeing most of our friends, going to school to see our teachers, going to school clubs and doing extracurricular activities. Hopefully we get more updates on the COVID-19 vaccines and a way to get them.