President Joe Biden declared the coronavirus pandemic over, but the handful of students that still wear a protective mask are a daily reminder that COVID-19 is still a thing. Another reminder: Frisco ISD’s disease prevention and mitigation guidelines that require staff and students to remain away from campus for five days since symptom onset, or their positive test if symptom free.

“We go along with the guidelines from the Center for Disease Control for the United States; our district adopts their rules,” assistant principal Phil Brown said. “We follow that to make sure the students and staff are able to get the treatment they need and to be separated from those on campus. Safety and security is our utmost responsibility and we want to make sure that we follow those guidelines to the tee.” 

According to school nurse Lindsey McDavid, the district’s guidelines, adopted from the CDC, help keep some people safe.

“There are still immunocompromised people in the general public that COVID could really affect if they were to get it,” McDavid said. “In general, for a lot of people, catching COVID is a really quick, short disease where you have cold-like symptoms, especially as compared to about a year or two years ago, but it is still important to protect the people who cannot be vaccinated or who could get really sick from catching it.”

Freshman Anagha Konuru also believes that despite the initial struggle of the pandemic being over, taking precautions is still a necessity. She and all her family members were infected with COVID-19 during summer break. 

“This summer, I went to a family friend’s birthday party with my family and five days later, we all got sick with COVID-19,” Konuru said. “The idea that we had COVID was terrifying and is why I stress the importance of having a quarantine session for anyone who tests positive, because I have experienced it firsthand.”