Since the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, 15 students and five employees have reported positive cases of COVID-19. In August 2021, students returned to in-person school, which has caused an increase in the transmission of the virus since social distancing is limited, classes are overcrowded, and protocols are not heavily enforced.

Students who tested positive for the virus over this school year could not attend school-sponsored activities until they received a negative test or until ten days had passed since they tested positive. However, students who are vaccinated do not need to quarantine as long as they are asymptomatic.

“It was such a challenge getting COVID-19,” Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School junior *Jane said. “I had to miss so much school and there was so much work to catch up on.”

Since March 2020, many students at MSD have been quarantined in their homes and have not attended school for over a year.

When a student tests positive for COVID-19, they must stay home from school for 10 days.. If students are quarantined, they can contact teachers via Canvas which is the app where assignments are posted and any information from the students courses. or email to receive their work.

“I had to schedule multiple makeup tests on top of doing all of the class work and homework I missed,” junior Ella Reiss said.

In addition to missing school work, a student can experience anxiety after recovering from COVID-19.

“After I had COVID-19, I had a lot of anxiety about being around a large number of people,” senior *John said.

A variety of students may fear interacting with other students after returning from their personal quarantine. MSD is a large school with over 3,500 students in attendance, which has prompted many overcrowding issues to occur.

The classes alone are overcrowded with most having at least 25 students in each class. The social distancing is minimal as the hallways and cafeteria are often crowded.

“It was uncomfortable after being in quarantine to come back and be in class with about twenty kids in each class,” junior *John said.

Coming back to school after having COVID-19 can additionally put a strain on students’ mental health. Having to catch up on their previous work while learning new concepts can cause stress. Students also may develop social anxiety after being in quarantine, such as fear of talking to other students or teachers.

“It can be hard for students to catch up on work they missed while quarantining, but I am always willing to help them,” Albert said.

School may have been a challenging transition back into in-person school. The amount of school work given at the beginning of the year may be a lot for students to handle. Tests were given on the second week of school for several students and the amount of homework was not what students were used to, as many transitioned from their virtual classrooms from the 2020-2021 school year.

“Online school was definitely a lot easier for me, so now it has been hard to adjust back to the workload and social interactions in school,” junior *Jane said.

Students also may fear falling behind in school work due to COVID-19. Returning to school has negatively affected students who had COVID-19 by causing stress, anxiety and a large workload.
*Names indicated were changed to protect the students’ anonymity.