COVID at PSA

By Sage Wright

The Phoenix Student Media

January of 2020. For most people, that’s the month that the world forever changed. Now, in mid-2022, PSA is still dealing with the effects of the coronavirus, which had damaging effects on both the world and the community. With COVID having such a major effect on the PSA community, The Phoenix student newspaper has decided to put together an investigative reporting article analyzing how COVID has affected PSA. Over the past few weeks the Phoenix staff has been hard at work gathering COVID data and conducting interviews to ensure that comprehensive and reliable data is provided.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have seen a decline in their mental health and this certainly is the case at PSA. In a survey put out by The Phoenix Student Newspaper 53.3% of respondents said that COVID had negatively affected their social lives.

When students were asked how COVID has affected their mental health, the majority of students responded in a similar manner with one student, Ace Smoak saying “My mental health has definitely declined after being stuck at home for so long.” This response given by Smoak is similar to the responses given by most other students who have expressed that the isolation experienced during quarantine had a negative impact on their mental health.

With so many students having declining mental health along with students attending school virtually, students' performance in school has also suffered throughout the pandemic. When asked about the effect that covid has had on academic performance in school, 9th-grader Marisa Blunt said, “It’s more difficult for me to maintain good grades.”

When looking at the number of COVID cases at PSA compared to other schools in the area, the case numbers show to be similar. Additionally the COVID rate of schools in the Charleston area tend to reflect the SC statewide COVID rate.

With COVID being so difficult to control, school staff has struggled to manage many of the challenges presented by the pandemic. Many of the new challenges and responsibilities from the pandemic have been placed on school nurses. PSA nurse Rachel Crafton shared that she has had to work many extra hours in order to properly manage COVID at PSA. With nurse Rachel having to manage her new responsibilities in addition to her pre-COVID responsibilities, she had to put some responsibilities such as CPR training and screenings to the side in order to focus more attention on COVID.

The pandemic has presented new challenges for school principals around the country. The pandemic was especially difficult for Ms. Rutherford, as the 2019-2020 school year was her first year as principal. When asked what advice she would give the next PSA principal in regard to COVID, Ms. Rutherford stated “Well, I think you have to be vigilant making sure you are staying up to date on the greater communities happenings as well as the nation and then of course the school community.”