Photo courtesy of senior Ahmee Smith

  Many teachers and students at San Luis Obispo High School have had to quarantine after catching the Omicron COVID-19 variant. It has caused emptier classrooms and a need for substitute teachers.

  During winter break, students traveled to see family and friends to celebrate the holidays. Some most likely caught the variant while traveling, then came back home. Even individuals with all the vaccines and booster shots have caught Omicron due to how infectious it is.

  “It was frustrating, but I knew it was still possible to get COVID and likely the symptoms wouldn’t be as intense because I was double vaccinated and boosted,” said science teacher Rowan Lowden, who got tested positive over winter break. “My experience was okay and my symptoms were faint. The worst part was not seeing family or friends during the isolation period.”

  When a student tests positive, they must notify the school. Then, the school will send out exposure emails to all the student’s teachers and classmates. Exposure emails have been in use since school returned to in-person, but sometimes students would also get pulled out of class to be notified.

  Since so many more students have been getting exposed, it is smart to simply send emails rather than disturb class. However, when students are exposed, it has become increasingly more difficult to get tested for COVID-19.

  “My brother and I got exposed and only found out about it a few days later. We tried checking pharmacies for the rapid tests, but they were always sold out and shipping was super slow due to the delays,” said senior Charlie Bigler. Many local clinics have also become too busy to accept walk-ins and require patients to make appointments for tests.

  Even when you can get access to a test, sometimes it can take a few days or more to receive your results. “My brother got one from the airport. It took them a week to get back to him, and it came back positive,” said Bigler. At that point, their brother had already stopped showing symptoms, which made the test nearly useless.

  Even with school-supplied at-home tests, students who get sick may unfortunately expect to be waiting on a test for multiple days.