Recently, our greatest fears came true – covid-19 in the building. Although the student that tested positive was a middle school student, the situation was frightening nonetheless.

We’ve been living through the pandemic for around seven months and it’s at the point where walking around with masks and standing six feet apart from friends and family is natural. So, having someone in the school test positive was a wake-up call and was a reminder that the pandemic is still occurring; it’s still a serious situation, and potentially life-threatening.

Following the necessary precautions, both Wantagh High School and Wantagh Middle School closed on Monday, October 19th for cleaning and other safety precautions. This meant not only would all students be doing virtual school that day, but teachers would be teaching from home, as well. 

While it’s always exciting to not have it go to school on a Monday, the day didn’t go as well as hoped. The lag was absolutely horrific meaning that it was only possible to jot down a couple of notes in an entire class period. Let alone that, in many of my classes the teachers weren’t able to hear their students and vice versa, and of course, the interesting school day included everyone’s favorite – high pitched screeching from computers.

Overall, I learned close to nothing and was just stressed out and anxiety-ridden most of the day. While I appreciate the school’s efforts to try to continue classes, I don’t think anyone or the systems set in place were fully prepared for a closed day, which is odd considering the current situation.