MOSELEY, Va. - For high school seniors, the season of spring is intended to be a joyful one. It is a time to put closure on one season of life and be able to look into the future on what is to come. For Cosby High School seniors such as Andy Novak and Brett Hicken, they won’t get that opportunity to have that closure during their final weeks as grade school students.
The Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has taken the world by storm in the news headlines. Although the virus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the rapid spread of the disease has transformed into a global pandemic. The heightened potential for unintended spread of the coronavirus by asymptomatic carriers has forced everyone to adjust their daily routines and their overall way of life.
When news of the virus first started to trickle into the minds of Americans, a large contingency of people believed this was an issue that would not become much of a factor in their usual schedules.
“We would watch one minute of BBC daily news in January or February. (China) was so far away. I knew about it for a long time but I wasn’t worried about it,” said Hicken.
“When I first was hearing about it, I didn’t think about it that much because it was far away,” said University of Virginia freshman Dylan Moore.
At this point, it is safe to say that this virus is not “far away” anymore. In fact, all 50 states have multiple reports of cases and deaths due to COVID-19. In the United States alone, there have been over 137,000 cases and nearly 2,500 deaths from this respiratory disease as of March 29th.
This outbreak in the United States surfaced right in the midst of spring break for many students. However, the news didn’t seem to faze many people initially. One University of Tampa student, Brady Sluder, infamously quoted that “if I get corona, I get corona” while spending time with friends at the beach. Since then, stricter guidelines have been put in place to enforce the practice of social distancing.
Because of these regulations, Virginia high school students have resorted to online schooling, following Gov. Ralph Northam’s announcement to close all public schools statewide for the rest of the academic year. Now, reality is starting to settle in as seniors are forced to miss out on many events that are said to be a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience.
“I won’t think about the quarantine but (instead) missing the experience of senior year,” said Novak. “Not getting to say good-bye. Now, senior prom and graduation is down the drain.”
“I cried for the first time in multiple years. I was deeply upset about it,” said Hicken.
Both Hicken and Novak were varsity athletes on the men’s soccer and tennis teams respectively at Cosby High. Due to the cancelations, they will not get to finish their careers on their terms.
“I could’ve played (soccer) in college but I chose not to. It was my last hurrah,” said Hicken.
“I’ll look back on missing my tennis season,” said Novak. “Missing out on that is really unfortunate.”
Although they are disappointed in what has transpired over the last few weeks, these students understand that it was the right decision in order to “flatten the curve” and slow the spread of the virus.
“I think it’s better to overreact than to wait and not have things done. You don’t want to be the one organization left behind,” said Moore.
One positive outtake from this unpredictable situation is the forced change has opened up several opportunities to reconnect at home in other ways.
“I’m playing board games with my family instead of watching sports games all night,” said Novak.
There has been much speculation on when a sense of normalcy will take place again. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the current national administration’s medical expert has not been shy on expressing his opinion on the Coronavirus outlook in the United States.
“You don’t make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline.” He further elaborated that “you need the data” before coming to conclusions about when to loosen some of the implemented guidelines related to social distancing as well as restrictions on business practices.
However, that won’t stop the public from making their own predictions on how this pandemic will shake out. If the guidelines set out by health and government professionals are followed correctly, many are optimistic that this pandemic’s effects could be mitigated before the end of the summer.
“I think he (President Trump) will target high-risk areas and move other places in the country back to normal. I would say middle of June would be the end of the state-wide restrictions,” said Hicken.
“It will be gradual, step-by-step. It will happen sooner rather than people think,” said Moore.
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