In the halls and classrooms of Watervliet High School, students say it can be hard to not get caught up in conversations about the coronavirus.
"They're like 'Oh my gosh, we just heard there's a case in New York state, it's going to come here, I'm not coming to school tomorrow,'" said senior Rubab Raza, who calls the conversations a daily occurrence.
"A lot of people are talking about it, the teachers are talking about it,” said senior Dom Rogalo.
"A lot of people are really scared but then a lot of people are not nervous at all," said Messiah Mallory, a fellow senior. Mallory counts himself among those who are less concerned. "I feel like when things like this come around, they just die down after a month or two and then no one really talks about it anymore."
"At first I was freaked out, but I wanted to learn more about it,” Raza said.
Raza, who plans to study medicine in college next year, says learning about the disease in classes and on her own has eased her fears but made her more vigilant about prevention.
"When I'm with my friends, I'm like 'Make sure you wash your hands, make sure you're being careful, don't touch your face a lot,'" she said.
"I definitely do wash my hands a lot, I try to stay away from all the germs and stuff," Rogalo said.
In addition to the students' own protective measures, the school is taking extra precautions. Custodians are spending more time wiping down doorknobs, railings, and just about every surface imaginable.
"I've definitely been seeing the janitors clean a lot more often," Rogalo said.
"Prevention is the most important thing in anything and prevention is key. The most cost-effective and the least time-consuming thing you can do in any situation,” said Allissa Melucci, the school’s nurse.
Despite all the hype surrounding the virus, the students stay calm, measured conversations in their classrooms have actually helped ease their fears.
"As soon as everyone starts to freak out and our teacher starts talking about it and everyone puts their input in, everyone seems to be at ease," Raza said.
"Especially the younger kids, because I feel like a teacher would lead by example and if a teacher is freaking out, his students are going to be scared too,” Mallory said.
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