Things to Know

What is the Omicron variant? The Omicron variant is a variant of the Covid-19 virus. What are its most common symptoms? According to nbcchicago.com, the symptoms that the variant is causing in some people include a sore throat, fatigue, muscle pain, and more severe fever/coughing than were caused by the original Covid-19. However, Omicron is not known to cause shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. Your symptoms may also depend on your vaccination status. If you were vaccinated before you contracted the virus you will have fewer symptoms, or your symptoms won’t be as severe as those experienced by people who are not vaccinated at all.

Tips to Avoid the Variant

Do you want to avoid the Omicron variant? Here are some simple steps to follow in order to not catch it, although these tips don’t 100% guarantee freedom from infection: According to deseret.com, getting vaccinated and getting your booster shot will help you stay safe. Children ages 5 and older are now eligible to get vaccinated and teenagers of ages 16+ can get their booster shots. Some other tips are wearing a mask, keeping your distance from others (6 feet apart or as far apart as you possibly can be), washing your hands while also disinfecting them, taking Covid-19 tests if you are worried about having an infection or have been in contact with someone who has Covid-19, and trying to improve ventilation and air filtration in indoor spaces.

Covid 19 Testing

According to washigtonpost.com, beginning Tuesday on a federal website or Wednesday on other sites, people will be able to order rapid Covid-19 tests that can be done at home. What’s the benefit of this? The benefit of this is that it would be free and it would also be delivered straight to your door without a cost of any kind. Since there is a high demand for Covid-19 tests, there will be a limit of 4 per household so people don’t take advantage of this to either sell them or abuse this chance. The whole point of this is so people don’t have to wait to make appointments to get tested and so testing centers aren’t too busy since many places are short-staffed.

School Updates

As of last week, many schools have been closing and going back online. Why is this? Many schools don’t have a sufficient amount of staff to be able to stay open. In Oregon, many schools have been closing and will continue to do so until they have enough staff to go back. Even though online was a hard thing last year, many school counselors, resources and websites are available for everyone to communicate about each other’s needs. If you ever need help, feel free to reach out to counselors and other resources that can be found online. Also since we are now online, it is important to also take care of your mental health. In nimh.nih.gov, it provides you with many resources so if you ever need it or someone else does, make sure to check it out. It includes phone numbers and numbers to text.