Covid has been affecting people in Danbury since December 2019. There have been multiple people in ACE who have tested positive for COVID 19 this school year. Multiple staff members and students at ACE have been interviewed about how it has affected them.
Out of the people that were interviewed, a teacher named Joanne has been affected by COVID 19 the most. She stated that she got COVID in January of 2023 and she has long term COVID headaches still. “My friend still can’t smell or taste after 2 years.” Stating that her friend suffers from parosmia due to having COVID. If there was another mask mandate she would be someone who wears their mask because it would prevent the sickness from spreading and protect her. She claims that it’s hard to breathe with the masks which causes struggles while she’s teaching. Joanne also still wore her mask after the mask mandate was lifted.
Another staff member from ACE, Anthony, was also affected by the pandemic. “I think everyone was affected by COVID. My grandmother passed away in a nursing home.” Anthony claims that the pandemic was one of the hardest things he had to live through and it took him away from the things that were most important in his life. He wore his mask but he didn’t use the desk shield during school. He said, “we had them but they weren’t used effectively.” Anthony didn’t have any family that was a high risk concern during the pandemic.
Two students were interviewed about how COVID affected them. One student, Faye, said “I think my mom had it. I think it affected people’s education, the way we went out in public, and also how we look at people.” She explained that when people sneeze or cough now most people cringe because of fear of getting sick. “I would wear my mask if it got really bad again.” She thinks that a lot of people stopped doing their work in school after the pandemic.
“I hated wearing masks. I would cry and it made me feel suffocated.” She still wore her mask even after the mandate was taken away.
— T Smith
The other student, T, claims “Yes, I was affected, I almost failed 7th grade.” She also said, “I hated wearing masks. I would cry and it made me feel suffocated.” She still wore her mask even after the mandate was taken away. She says that in her school they had to use the desk shields all day, even during lunch.
COVID has affected a large number of people and it still affects people to this day.
Photo from NPR.org