It all started 18 months ago when COVID-19 made its international debut, drastically changing the lives of everyone around the world. With no vaccine and through understanding of the virus, America went into panic and the result was a deep quarantine for several months, socially distancing oneself from every aspect of a previous life. But flash forward to now, lives are becoming more and more similar to what is considered “normal.” Although it will never truly be the same, society has resumed almost all of its activities, just with mitigations. As people continue to study and learn more about the virus, life becomes closer and closer to “normal.”

“We’ve learned a lot about how COVID works, how it behaves, how it spreads, and how it doesn’t spread,” said Superintendent Mikkel Storaasli. “Obviously we’ve had the vaccine, and our vaccination rates are extremely high amongst students and amongst staff. I think we found the big mitigations to be vaccines, masks, and social distancing to a degree.”

A huge mitigation, as mentioned, is the vaccine. Vaccinated individuals are less likely to either contract the virus or spread it, and Grayslake North boasts very high rates, especially amongst staff members. In an effort to raise the vaccination rates of students and the community, Grayslake North has had multiple vaccine clinics, usually open to the community.

“Until we get everybody vaccinated or a major population vaccinated, I think we’re still going to be wearing masks,” said school nurse Annie Swiatek. “Possibly even next year too. I would hope to say we wouldn’t be wearing masks.”

Even if a major population within our school is vaccinated, the final say is up to our governor, J. B. Pritzker. The governor will only consider lifting the mandates if case rates are very low. The last time it was low enough to lift the mandate was during the summer, when the good weather and ability to distance was present. But now, in large part due to the Delta variant, the amount of new cases per week is rather large, with 15,669 cases in the last week.

“I’m guessing it is going to have to say that the numbers are at an all time low,” said associate principal Megan Licht. “But again it’s a state mandate, so it’s up to our governor to tell us if we should or should not be wearing masks anymore. I feel like we reached that point in July, and all of a sudden three weeks later it was like oops, false alarm. It’s all dependent on what’s happening around us. We can’t go rogue.”
As rates continue to go up, a huge resource at Grayslake North is the availability of SHIELD testing. A relatively new and unknown resource, SHIELD testing is an easy and safe way to test for COVID-19, with results coming in 24 hours. Those who take the test are assumed to be negative; It’s simply for one’s own peace of mind.

“I think among some people, because of its brand, think that oh my gosh if I get a SHIELD test, it means I have to be quarantined until I get a negative result,” Storsaali said. “Nope. Absolutely not. If you want to get tested just for your own peace of mind, just to see, you can do that. If you take a SHIELD test, we assume you are negative. We’ve had one positive case and over hundreds of people have tested.”

A major concern of people is that if enough people get infected, we could potentially return to remote learning. But both the school and the government have stressed the importance of in-person learning and do not have plans to return to e-learning anytime soon. The only foreseeable reason as to why schools would return to e-learning is if there is an outbreak within the school or the virus spreads rapidly throughout the state or country.

“I had just heard of a school that’s closing down around here,” Swiatek said. “Because there was an outbreak, they had to go to remote learning. Some people learn by remote learning. They are independent and they can do things on their own, but a lot of people just need to be in the building to learn.”

Many students and teachers are also curious about leaving the building, especially for field trips and overnight trips. The school intends to allow them, but also requires certain information in order to ensure the safety of everyone on the trip. Vaccination status will be asked on the permission slip for simple knowledge. Those who are unvaccinated will need to be tested, but testing is strongly recommended for every student before traveling.

“I think we’ll be able to get back into field trips and regular trips,” Storassli said. “Again, we’re learning how to deal with this virus not just in school but in the real world. It’s all proximity and how many people get crammed on a bus, so I think it’s entirely possible.”

Grayslake North has been doing an amazing job, and because of the willingness to follow rules and take extra safety precautions, we have been able to remain in person this school year and have the same experiences we had before quarantine. It is because of the safety measures that students get to enjoy this school year together, and it is imperative that everyone continue to stay safe in order to have fun.

“Everybody please keep doing what you’re doing,” Storaasli said. “We’re doing a great job. Yes, we can walk down the hall and a nose showing and all that, and the cafeteria you know it can get a little bit different because people are eating. Just keep doing what you are doing and keep taking this seriously.”