Consistent sniffling from the back of the class, scratchy coughing in the hallways, and teachers with raspy voices are the sounds that echo through Rock Canyon the first month back at school. 

With all of the changes that Covid-19 caused last year, mask-wearing and time spent at home. away from others seemed to be the reason for some of the best health records the state of Colorado had seen in a long time. 

Johns Hopkins Medicine explains in an article that the decline of flu cases was caused primarily due to the closures of schools, restaurants, and other public places. In turn, there were significantly fewer opportunities to spread disease, Covid or otherwise. There was also an increase in hand-washing, frequent sanitization, and attainment of the influenza vaccine, all of which boosted the immune systems and lowered contraction cases. 

The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRP) completed a study that showed that the common cold showed a drastic decrease from years prior in the year of 2020, when Covid was running rampant. 

In August, students and staff were back in school with no initial mask mandates or strong social distancing enforcements. A head cold rapidly spread through the building.

Some student athletes felt that the effects of this sickness impacted their ability to play. Ganon Figueroa ‘22, a varsity volleyball player, contracted this head cold near the beginning of the season.

“It’s affected me pretty bad. It’s hard to play volleyball with it and I got behind in school and I couldn’t focus,” Figueroa said. 

Kade Ericson ‘23 also caught this sickness and had a sore throat, runny nose, and dry cough. 

“This cold has affected me a lot. I’m way less energetic and it has made recovering from extracurricular activities harder too,” Ericson said.  

Now, with the new mask mandate being put in place on Sept. 1, it is to be expected that there will be a decrease in the general sickness of the school population. 

“I think that the new mask mandate is a smart decision since all students are sick, not with Covid, but with other sicknesses that are less eye-catching,” Ericson said.