COVID-19 has swept the nation since the national quarantine in March and millions of people have been affected by this powerful virus. Some of these people are students in the Watkins Mill community. 

“I had gotten [the virus] the beginning of June, so pretty early on when it was first really spreading,” junior Aliana Zast* said. COVID-19 first started appearing in the United States as early as January 20, 2020.

There have been many different ways people have been exposed to it and many different durations of time that it affected each individual. Symptoms of the virus have been reported to be fever, dry cough, loss of taste and smell, shortness of breath, and a sore throat.  

“My symptoms were kind of complicated,” junior John Wicker* said. “I had a few days where I felt sneezy, stuffy, and had a cough, then a few days where I felt fine.” 

Severity of symptoms may vary from person to person and symptoms may last for different amounts of time, while some may be asymptomatic. “I first got it in March, then it went dormant, then my symptoms resurfaced in July,” Wicker added. “I still have lingering symptoms every once in a while.” 

Most cases show that symptoms aren’t as severe for younger people in good health, but the virus spreads rapidly and those who get infected can spread it to their family members.

“I had it for about a week and half, but my family and I still quarantined the full two weeks, just for precaution’s sake,” Zast added. “It didn’t affect me too bad, but my mom was practically bed-ridden for about two days.” 

The general precaution is that people who tested positive should quarantine for at least two weeks to ensure they are no longer contagious to others. The virus has impacted students’ mental and physical health.   

“Mentally, it was draining though. I was very scared especially because of everything I heard on the news,” Zast said. “All I wanted to do was cry and I honestly felt a little bit embarrassed about getting it.” 

However, there are many different precautions to take to avoid testing positive for this virus. “Don’t go hang with your friends at Target, don’t go to parties, etc. It is absolutely worth it, I promise,” Wicker said. “Wear a mask whenever you leave the house. When you come back from being out and about, it’s a good idea to change your clothes so that any germs you were exposed to don’t stay on your body.”

“Afterwards I realized that millions of people have gotten it and I wasn’t the only one in the world to have gotten this virus,” Zast added. “I was just so fortunate that I was healthy and I did not experience anything too severe during my quarantine.”

*Disclaimer: Names have been changed to protect students’ privacy*