Covid-19 then and now: years later, are we really safe? 

By Lucas Sayrs & Taha'a Kahele 

Staff Writers & Editors 

      Five years after COVID-19 appeared, new variants in the virus continue to threaten our health. 

COVID is an everlasting problem in our community and continues to affect everyone, including students and staff who had their 2020 school year cut short. 

One student, Branson Muston, a junior, has felt the lasting effects of the pandemic and he described his experience. “The pandemic - it gave me time off of school to focus more on getting my act together, it actually helped to improve my overall grades. Although I know it hurt a lot of students’ academics.” 

Muston stated that “COVID has continued to affect my life because many people in school around me got sick, some of my friends got sick because of COVID.” Muston described that most people stopped taking COVID seriously and it led to more people getting sick 

“On my education, as said before, it improved, I had much more time to focus on school during online classes and I thought online classes were suitable because I struggled in school.”

Aside from the physical, Mental, and social effects, countless people were affected economically, including Muston. Muston stated that his family was affected because his aunt had to get multiple jobs.

When asked about COVID-19 vaccines potentially being less effective, Muston responded; “I never got mine, not because I'm lazy but because I didn't think a shot would be effective, I still haven't caught COVID thought” When asked, “are you worried about the new COVID variants?” Muston responded “I haven't heard much about the new variants, hopefully, I don't get sick, and I will continue to wear a mask”  

Noa Leslie a junior, here at Konawaena. Stated that his family was affected because both of his parents work in the medical field, they were extremely stressed out by the rising cases of COVID, and to an extent they still are. 

“To be quite honest I was positively impacted by COVID, I worked out more and got really fit, and I also had a lot of free time.”

  Some families continue to be affected economically by COVID because of the extreme hospital bills still being paid to this day. 

“Lots of businesses suffered and the economy crashed which affected everyone.” “COVID is kind of lingering around still, but sometimes I forget it exists sometimes”

 On behalf of Leslie's athletics, I started working out at the gym and now I have a nice physique”

“I only know a little bit about the new variants because of my parents, I think it should be more of a big deal in the news because COVID still affects everyone”

Even though COVID may seem like a distant part of the past, it still is a problem for people all around the world. We may not have many cases anymore but the lasting impact is still being felt by many people.

As new COVID-19 variants spread throughout the community and across the nation, protection from previous infections and vaccinations are waning. With the end of school vastly approaching variants like BQ.11 and BQ.1, which are known to be Immune-evasive. And could possibly have a traumatic effect on students and their families. COVID vaccines being readministered cause the consumer to be concerned with the longevity or efficiency of the 

Of course, vaccine protection wears out over time. This is nothing new. Immune evasive variants can cause prevention of COVID via vaccination even more difficult. The flu vaccine is a “good option for those who are concerned with how they will manage without additional protection”. It should always remain as an option but only as an option. 

Paxlovid (a treatment for COVID and disease prevention) has been approved for emergency use for people 12 and up who are at risk for severe disease. 

 David Siakov, a student here at Konawaena, said that as far as he is concerned, “it is still only approved for emergency use and its potential long term side effects have not been fully investigated.” 

There appears to be some relief  among the students and staff here at Konawaena but COVID–19 will always be a constant thought in the minds of all the public.