While we’re still in a pandemic and dealing with Covid-19 all around the world, there’s more to it than just Covid-19. Covid-19 appears to have a second variant called B-117 which came from South Africa and has spread to the United States (U.S.). Maryland happened to be the second state to have cases of the B-117 strand. South Carolina was the first state to catch cases of the B-117 strand. 

             In the STAT article it mentioned that B-117 is a variant of SARS-COV-2 which is mainly short for Covid-19. B-117 came in early 2021 according a STATNews article and the variant can be defeated if people followe the guidelines that’s being put out to prevent the spread. B-117 can give you the same result as Covid-19 but worse. The variant will cause more stress to health officials because they’re still fighting the “ 2020 foe.”

             On January 30, 2021, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced that “ the B-117 strand hit Maryland. It most likely had hit Maryland because people aren’t wearing masks, social distancing nor are they taking the virus seriously. ” 2 people in Baltimore have the B-117 variant so far. In an article the governor mentioned that “ we strongly encourage Marylanders to practice extra caution to limit the additional risk of transmission associated with this variant. Please continue to practice standard public health and safety measures, including mask-wearing, regular hand washing, and physical distancing ”.The governor was basically saying that Marylanders need to follow the laws are being put out and take it more seriously with the extra practice of social distancing, wearing masks and sanitizing more often.

             In The Baltimore Sun it mentioned that a couple in Anne Arundel County was tested positive for the B-117 variant. Dr. Chan, the professional that tested them mentioned that they caught it due to “ extensive travel ”. He also said “ if more people get sick, then we are more likely to have more complications” . He means that the more people get tested positive for having it the more troubles John Hopkins Hospital is going to have.               

            Students at Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS)  had their thoughts and concerns about the B-117 variant hitting Maryland. Brittani Robinson, a band dancer and model at (ERHS), said she never heard about the B-117 variant hitting Maryland but her thoughts on it were that “ it makes you not want to go anywhere, it makes you think about your safety when you go outside, and it makes you scared to go out and breathe in the air.” She said if she ever caught the virus she would “ quarantine herself, drink some hot tea and take vitamins and probiotics ”. She also noted down that her family members have the virus but they are taking stuff to get better. 

            However, a 4.0 student named Diamond McClary that goes to (ERHS) said “she heard about the variant hitting Maryland and she had questions about it because she mentioned that  they don’t talk about it as much as they do with COVID and she was wondering if it’s really effective and killing people like they say it is ”. She doesn’t believe that the variant is real because she said “ they don’t have valid information about it and they don’t talk about it as much on TV than they do with the coronavirus.” If a vaccine was issued she said she wouldn’t take it because she has different thoughts on it. 

            A senior dancer, Asha Green, heard about the variant and she said “ she was wondering where it came from and why it is more lethal than the first strand.” If she caught both the coronavirus and variant she said she would “ panic because she knows it’s serious and you can die from both.”  She also noted that if Governor Larry Hogan hosted a “ Stay Home Plan ” she would follow it because “ she is trying to avoid catching anything and she wants to stay safe. ”

           The students at Eleanor Roosevelt High School were very surprised about hearing about the B-117 variant hitting our state and now they are starting to question making a return back to school. The students want to stay safe and don’t want to catch any virus that’s out in our community.