Joshua Mah/Staff Reporter
According to “COVID-19 cases reported at Essex County High School & Elementary School“ written by Lindsay Charlton, on February 10, many students were sent home that day when Essex County reported a confirmed case of COVID-19 on the school premises.
Thousands of parents have been alerted about this incident at their child’s school and will get notified whether their child has tested positive COVID. Officials are encouraging the students to check for symptoms. If they feel any symptoms from COVID-19, they must stay at home and obtain further direction from their healthcare provider.
“Yes, I would be afraid of going back to school because, I may get the COVID virus. It may be dangerous for me and other people” said Joon, a grade 10 Gleneagle Secondary student.
“We have been working with the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) by providing lists of students and staff who may have been in contact with the individual. If you have not been contacted, you or your child(ren) have not been identified as close contacts,” said a member of the Belle River District High School. Memos were posted by the two schools on their websites informing about the confirmed case in the schools.
An advice to all students, staff and parents is to monitor their child(ren) for any symptoms and stay home if they do. The students in Gleneagle are concerned about cases of Covid in schools because there’s a new variant of COVID and it is spreading wildly. Parents are afraid for their child(ren) getting the variant but as long all of us follow Dr. Bonnie Henry’s orders and safety procedures, we’re reducing the risk of COVID and saving others.
“If Gleneagle had to be closed down, all my classes would be moved online. Considering we’re already doing English partially online and we’ve done remote learning before, I don’t think the switch will be too hard.” said Alexis, another grade 10 Gleneagle student.
When Gleneagle sent out messages saying that some members of the school have COVID-19, the students are concerned. Some people say that schools should close down after an exposure has been reported but if they do that, it would mess up our education and quarter learning groups and sometimes delay tests or important events. Even though we can do online classes, there are classes that have specific requirements. For example, if you joined a wood-working course, that won’t be possible because you don’t have the right machines to use and you don’t have the wood provided.