Some students and staff members are attending school completely online due to health reasons or a preference for working from home. This year, teachers are required to do mental health exercises with their students during En-Cor due to the lack of socializing and increase in anxiety over the past six months.

“Some students may have experienced social isolation and increased anxiety while not physically being in school due to COVID-19,” the CDC said.

Teachers and administration are taking initiative to help students while at school.

“Schools also provide critical services, such as … behavioral and mental health services,” the CDC said.

Math teacher Wally Axmann’s wife is immunocompromised. If someone is immunocompromised, they have a medical condition that destroys their kidneys and liver. 

If someone’s had an organ transplant and had to take immunosuppressants to accept the organs, they’re considered immunocompromised, Axmann said. His wife has had two organ transplants. Immunosuppressants also lowers the immune system’s strength and ability to fight off diseases such as Coronavirus.

“We have gone to visit family once or twice,” Axmann said. “Our more elderly family, who is also being extremely careful.” 

Some students may not be working from home because of a compromised family member or because they are more comfortable working from their own home.

Senior Olivia Henderson said that she chose to attend school remote full-time because she, “didn’t want to contract or spread COVID.”

Students were asked to make a choice at the beginning of the year. They were asked to either attend school two days a week in person and the rest remote or attend school completely remote. For students like Henderson, remote learning is a lot easier to handle. 

“I think it’s been a stressful situation for everybody,” Axmann said. “Knowing that it is a much more precarious situation for us … makes us a lot more aware how people are behaving.”