As we near the end of 2022, we seem to be hearing less and less about the generation-defining tyrannical virus, COVID-19. It has become such a large factor in our recent years as a society that it’s almost hard to remember a time before it wasn’t at least a looming danger in the back of our minds. Despite its fall from dominating the media, many sources say COVID-19 is not behind us just yet. 

According to the Kitsap Public Health District, there are around 180 new cases of COVID-19 per week. Lamarius Williams’ mother contracted the virus only a few weeks ago, and he spoke on how it affected his home life. “Well, I had to stay away from her and she was secluded in her room, so I didn’t really get to talk to her or see her a lot, so that really affected me,” said Williams. 

COVID-19 is even more risky to those of old age or people with pre-existing medical problems, which is called being immunocompromised. Tracewell still wears his mask everyday, not for himself, but his sister-in-law who is high risk and he takes care of. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC for short), anyone who shows symptoms, has had a positive Covid-19 test, or has been exposed to someone with COVID-19, should wear a mask. For people like Tracewell, it isn’t worth the risk to not wear one. 

Testing from the CDC shows that across the board, all vaccinated groups had an overall lower risk of dying from COVID-19 and testing positive for COVID-19 compared with people who were unvaccinated. People who are caught up on their vaccines are shown to have a 14.9 times lower chance of dying from COVID-19, and a 3.2 times lower risk of testing positive for the virus.

COVID-19 has been known to evolve, and over the 4 years we have seen many new strains called variants which behave differently and require different methods of treatment. According to the World Health Organization (or WHO), there have been five main variants: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron. Omicron is the current circulating variant of concern. It accounts for around 98% of viral sequences after February 2022. There are over 600,000 new cases of COVID-19 daily worldwide. Many of your friends, family and even fellow students like Emma Lundblad feel the effects. Her brothers both caught COVID-19 a few weeks ago. She speaks on whether she thinks COVID-19 is over, and if people should still wear masks.

“No, definitely not,” says Lundblad. “I think in particular circumstances, like if you’re at the airport and an area where there are a lot of people coming from a lot of different places, I think you definitely should. But I don’t necessarily think that you have to be wearing it in your day to day life. Because there’s not that much of a risk anymore. But if you had Covid-19 recently and you’re supposed to be wearing a mask you should, or if you’re sick, you should wear a mask. But like in your normal day to day life, no.”

While COVID-19 may be on the decline, there is still an undeniable risk of catching it and there will be for a while. We must not forget all the lives lost and families crushed by it. COVID-19 has killed just over 1 million people in the U.S. and that number continues to rise. It is imperative that people with symptoms get tested and wear their mask, especially for the people that cannot wear theirs or get vaccinated.