Since When is Coughing a Crime?

Every time you cough, are you in a panic thinking you have COVID? You are not alone.
Don’t worry because this time of year everyone is getting sick with the common cold or something else.
With the fear of COVID, flu season is going to be a whole lot different this year!

“Whenever I cough or sneeze I get weird looks from everyone!” said Junior Ava Fields.

In this time of the coronavirus, it’s weird getting just a regular cold. Everyone thinks you’re disgusting! Last year we got colds and would just come to school. But this year getting a common cold has us taking extra precautions.

Students miss the school years of waking up and going to school everyday without having to worry about being in a pandemic.

With cold and COVID symptoms being similar, it is hard to determine if you should get tested or not because it could be likely that it is in fact the coronavirus.

Sometimes it’s best to get tested; better safe than sorry!

“Everything’s a toss up right now with whether your sickness is a common yearly cold, or the coronavirus. I believe that if you present two or more symptoms to stay home and get tested!” said Fields.

A lot of people are confused on what to do if they feel sick, which I don’t blame them for. This can be hard on schools because they want to try to keep everything open but they don’t want kids coming in if it’s a chance of the virus.

Fields was out for a while due to feeling sick.

She said, “I usually don’t get very sick with anything other than common colds, but this year, cold symptoms and COVID symptoms are pretty similar, so when I developed them, I had to stay out of school until my test came back. When it came back it was negative, but it’s a scary thought of thinking you could be the reason for spreading corona through the school!”

If it was last year, it would be normal to come in even if you had the flu. This year things are very different, and missing school is very common. You don’t want to chance spreading it and getting everything shut down again.

“My family’s COVID test came back negative so I was safe to come back, but whenever I would cough or sneeze, I would get some weird looks from people!” said Fields.

This year it feels like a crime to cough! People are quick to judge when someone coughs or sneezes. It’s a terrible feeling holding back a cough! But you never want to make anyone feel uncomfortable.

Senior Keith Washington said, “I think people were being extremely weird about me having a cold, and it caused me to miss football.”

Being sick with a cold can make you miss school and sports, even if you don’t want to miss or you feel fine enough to go. They can’t risk any chances of spreading anything. But I feel like it can take a toll on a kids mental health.

“I think in a time like this it’s easy to just pretend it’s not happening, but I think out of respect for everyone if you’re sick you should stay home even though it’s hard,” said Washington.

In fear of having everything shut down I think a lot of people pretend they’re not sick because they are extremely tired of everything not being normal and having to have restrictions on their lives. Washington said being sick with the common cold made him miss seven days.

With the world the way it is, we are in for a long winter with the flu season! It’s going to be crazy! People will be out for weeks and getting tested left and right.

As Washington said.” “Stay in and stay healthy everyone!”