On Friday, November 6, many students, including me, were pulled out of class and sent home to be quarantined for two weeks. This experience was very scary for many students and others who were in class that day.
That morning I, of course, had no idea I would be sent home during sixth period, but I had a feeling school wasn’t going to be in person much longer. Many school districts had gone remote, and at the time, I was expecting that Friday to be one of my last. Although I did not expect to return to school the next week, I had no idea that I could have been carrying the virus walking into school that day.
I was pulled out of class during sixth period before A lunch had even ended. I was in the middle of taking notes. Someone asked for me and told me to take all my stuff, for I would not be coming back to class. I had no idea where we were going.
My first thought was that one of my parents was here to take me home, but that would have been strange since I probably would’ve known about that. My next thought was maybe I had to meet with a teacher about an assignment or an outside of school thing. To get to the point, I had no idea what this was about until we arrived outside of the health clinic.
At first, I thought maybe I had been reported for showing symptoms, and I was confused because I felt perfectly healthy. Before that day, I thought students who were quarantined were sent a letter before they went to school; I had never heard of someone being sent home during the day.
Ms. Smith in the office then told me that I had been exposed to COVID, and I was going to be sent home immediately. She told me I could not come back to school until November 20, which doesn’t matter now since school is remote through Thanksgiving. I was informed that I was exposed when I was at Poms practice, which was scarier to me than if it had been in class.
It was one thing to know that you were sitting by someone for a class period, and you probably never even talked to them or were facing in their direction. Being exposed to COVID at a practice alarmed me more, and I felt like I was more likely to have it since I had been with this person after school all week. I also felt very contaminated with the fact I was removed from class immediately after the case was reported, not until after school.
Previous to this day, I had never been aware of being exposed, and I was immediately scared for my family and me. I didn’t want to be the one responsible for spreading the virus to my family. I had heard of people getting very sick from COVID, and I did not want anything to do with getting sick.
I was also afraid of getting behind in school, but now that Littleton High School is remote, I don’t have to worry about this as much. So far, I am symptom-free and am showing no signs of COVID, although my quarantine is not over, and there is the possibility I can still get COVID.
Overall, my experience made my heart skip a beat, and I’m sure it made my fellow peers scared too. If there is ever another time when students have to be pulled out of class to be quarantined, maybe the administration can wait until a passing period. Unfortunately, there is not a perfect way to deliver bad news, and I believe that Ms. Smith was very helpful in informing me of my exposure. Hopefully, no one who is quarantined tests positive and we can return to school soon.