Morton East is doing their best to avoid the coronavirus.

Morton East is preparing for the coronavirus by sending out emails to teachers and families and sending digital copies on how to prevent it to come to our school and from spreading. According to American Federation Teachers, our school nurses should ask students with a fever if they’ve traveled outside the United States.  According to an email from Dr. Tim Truesdale, superintendent, any emergency developments will be shared with staff via email and robocall, and with families via robocall, Skyward, Messenger, and the District’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages.

“It’s my understanding that in the event that the school were to close down because of possible spread of the virus we would still instruct through E-Learning senior teachers producing a packet of classwork in case it was to happen and give it to students ahead of time,” Journalism teacher Kent Frankfother said.

Are school field trips being cancelled due to COVID-19? Yes and no. Anatomy students are planning on taking a trip to watch an open heart surgery with Mr. Bonner. Small fieldtrips (local trips) aren’t being canceled. No international trips are being planned.

“Our district actually banned any international travel to or from other countries about 5 years ago,” Assistant Principal Mr. Borgardt said.

Many schools around the Chicagoland area are not closing due to COVID 19 but are taking heavy precautions to avoid the virus. According to The American Federation of Teachers has sent out a file stating that all teachers and schools should take precautions and take charge to keep their desks and classrooms clean. Although many schools are still planning to be open many teachers have decided to not go because they are scared to could be infected. Schools have publicly stated that if children who are feeling ill and have likely symptoms to COVID 19 should stay at home until they feel better and have no trace of the virus.

“Teachers in all my class periods have taken precautions on the corona virus, they have cleaned their classroom to top shape,” senior Paola Macias said.

With this virus, many teachers and staff have taken precautions to prevent this epidemic.  Morton East high school and the city of Chicago have made many policies.   The school has new policies, and the school has already sent out a bilingual letter to students and parents regarding the coronavirus symptoms for them to take precautions. Many of the policies are just to wash your hands and to stay home if feeling sick. One important policy is that teachers have hand sanitizer available for students. According to Chicago.gov, the only policy that the city of Chicago has made is for healthcare providers to continue asking patients with fever and respiratory symptoms about their travel history.  Officials from the Illinois Department of Public Health are recommending schools continue holding classes and events as usual and follow routine cleaning procedures.

“If feeling sick is recommended to wash their hands and stay home. Students and staff should not touch their face. Staff is offering hand sanitizer for students,” Mr. Dugan a Morton East dean said.

That is not only for Morton east but also for the entire district 201. One class that has implemented a new policy is the class technical service internship (TSI).

“We as TSI workers have to take precautions, the new policy states that we have to give the customer a disinfectant wipe for them to clean their computer before it is handed to us, ” A Morton East student that is enrolled in TSI stated.

Are the people in your community concerned or taking precautions towards COVID-19? For the most part, no. Students at Morton East are not worried and are not taking precautions such as washing your hands or at least sanitizing the hands daily. When coughing or sneezing, you’re supposed to cough to your elbows. According to 100 Morton East students, only 38 are taking care of themselves and the people around them.

“I’m actually scared of the coronavirus what if I get it and die,” sophomore Angie Ocampo said.

There have been deaths due to the coronavirus that has caused people to fear the virus and their health safety.

“I am concerned about the coronavirus because it’s caused hundredths of deaths within a day,” senior Monse Segundo said.

There are students who can agree that the coronavirus is deadly and is causing problems in people’s day to day life.

“The coronavirus is a serious thing that’s happening and most of us are concerned because it’s taking away many lives and it’s spreading tremendously,” senior Michelle Soliz said.

While some people aren’t really informed on the virus there are others who are concerned due to what they’ve seen or read on the news.

“ I’m not really updated about the coronavirus so I’m not scared,” senior  Estefania Guitierrez said.

All people should take precautions because the Coronavirus is spreading fast. The policies made by the school are for us to take precautions.

Students and families are preventing the Convid-19 in multiple ways. One way is by wearing a face mask. Face mask helps from preventing the virus from entering through your mouth or your nose. People are also washing their hands for about 20 seconds and are put on some hand sanitizer.

“I wash my hands multiple times a day I wash my hands for about 20 seconds I also put on some hand sanitizer,” Morton East student Bryan Orozco said.

Another way is to cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. You should also maintain at least 3 feet distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing. One last thing you should do is avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Touching your face can make the virus enter your body and make you sick.

This year the Morton East clinic has given over 100+ flu shots. Has the vaccine helped? Morton east clinic has said that the vaccine has helped many people. Oh no, i just sneezed! What is the correct procedure for me to follow?

“please cover your mouth. Wash your hands shortly after or sanitize your hands,” said Morton East Clinic.

And, yes, dogs can get corona virus.

According to the scientists in  Hong Kong, a dog tested “weak positive” they aren’t too sure if the dog  was fully infected or if it  picked  up  traces from  contaminated surfaces. Corona Virus can be spread from  Human-to-Animal.  As of right now they is no evidence of  pets spreading the virus. Pets that tested  positive from CV showed to have it but none of the pets showed symptoms.