The first case of COVID-19 in the United States was reported on January 21, 2020. With only a few cases in the US, no one expected how insane the next year would be. As of March 11, 2021, there have been over 29 million cases in the United States, with over 529 thousand deaths.  COVID-19 became an official pandemic a year ago. The global pandemic has taken the world by storm, and it is crazy to think that last year people were stocking up on toilet paper not knowing the radical issues to come. However, vaccines have been created and are being distributed fast. The Wilmington Friends Community is still taking extreme precautions to make sure all of their students and faculty members are safe. 

Though coronavirus is still a global issue, Delaware stats are different than ever before. There are 95 current hospitalizations due to COVID-19, with a 7-day-average of 207 cases. Sadly, there have been approximately 1,490 deaths in the state of Delaware. On the bright side, Delaware is in phase 1B of vaccinations, and over 286,000 vaccines have been distributed. There have been many different attempts to make kinds of vaccines, but currently, there are 3 approved by the CDC. Moderna, Johnson and Johnson/Janssen, and Pfizer-BioNTech. However, two more vaccines are in testing right now, Novavax and AstraZeneca. A Pfizer spokesperson said the company finished enrolling participants for its trial with teens age 12 to 15. Until then, all teens over the age of 16 should be eligible to receive the vaccine around early to mid-April. Right now in Delaware, there are lots of requirements in order for one to get the vaccine. People who are 50 years or older, Health care personnel, long-term care or staff residents, people over the age of 16 with moderate or high-risk health conditions, and all kinds of frontline essential workers.

With everything happening, there are thoughts that the school schedule could go back to normal and online students may be transferring back into an all hybrid schedule. Rebecca Zug, Head of Upper School, has information on this idea. She explains how we will not return to 5 days of in-person learning this school year, however, next year we will hopefully go back to “normal”. Masks will be around for students and faculty for a long time to come. 

Governor Carney is very adamant about moving on the right track with COVID and the vaccine. He has held multiple online press conferences where he answers questions about all the new things headed our way. This is something he has been doing since last March when Delaware first went into a state of emergency. Testing locations are still popping up consistently everywhere over northern Delaware. Wilmington Friends is doing a great job with requiring the students to get tested on a monthly basis in order to come into school, and WFS is working hard to make sure everyone stays safe and feels comfortable in school. Whether they are an online teacher or student or they are hybrid, WFS is striving to meet everyone’s needs.