As the 2021-2022 school year progresses and students become accustomed to another school year back on campus, there are still precautions being taken in order to account for the health and safety of the student body, faculty and staff. 

While the COVID-19 cases throughout the U.S. are high, in Seminole Country alone there have been over 50,000 positive cases with no less than thousands of students quarantining in and around the county. More and more cases are rising within the campus and so are concerns and questions regarding the wellbeing of the student body and the recent development of the delta variant hasn’t helped to calm those nerves. As of Tuesday, Sep. 21, the Lake Brantley population has experienced a total of 84 cases with 4 out of the 84 still currently active within the past 10 days. These 84 cases have caused 936 quarantines with 51 of those cases still active. 

“I find it a bit risky as not many people have vaccines and I have seen masks on the floor,” senior Anastasia Kozeroff said. “It’s a good thing that we have the encouragement for masks, as it does help us protect ourselves.”

Some students feel that the administration is not doing the necessary amount of sanitization that is needed in order to keep the campus disinfected. Others feel that students are not following the guidelines and precautions that they have been asked to take such as wearing their masks properly and maintaining a clean and sanitized campus. 

On Thursday, Sep. 2, the Seminole County School Board hosted a meeting regarding the current mask mandate. Lasting around eight hours, they discussed whether or not students should be required to wear their masks when on campus. The school board decided to keep masks optionable and still require parents to send a signed note to allow their student(s) to opt-out of the mandate, which a large part of Lake Brantley’s population has taken part in.

“Even though I’m vaccinated, at the beginning I was really scared to take off my mask at school but slowly but surely I got more comfortable with being without a mask so I stopped wearing one,” senior Matthew Ortega said. “I carry one with me all the time but this is only because I am vaccinated. Otherwise, I would have kept the mask on.”

Due to the rapid growth in cases, students are becoming more anxious as the dangers associated with Covid-19 become more and more prevalent. While many may have differentiated views on the mask mandates, there is still a large population of the student body who believe that the current regulations are not enough. 

“Masks should be mandatory and we should have a deep clean after every day,” sophomore Anthony Quilles said. “Students need to not leave their trash everywhere. They need to wear masks and sanitize constantly and just keep the campus clean.”