Over one year ago, the Covid-19 virus was introduced to the world and drastically changed every aspect of life it touched. 

Now, due to an increasing number of Covid vaccinations, cases of the virus have been at a steady decline. Because of this, Powell High School has been loosening up on some of its restrictions. After one whole year, Panther students and staff are finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

PHS Principal Mr. Tim Wormald said March 25 that students will no longer be required to follow the one-way hallway traffic patterns. After returning from spring break, it was also announced that students’ temperatures will no longer be taken upon entering the building. Both precautions had been in effect since the beginning of the school year to prevent the spread of the virus, and the state department of health has now relaxed that order.

 “I don’t know of anybody who would be really sad to [not] wear a mask anymore, but that’s probably not going away this school year,” PHS Assistant Principal Mr. Steve Lensegrav said. “The number of cases are down, and the number of vaccinations are way up, so hopefully that trend continues, and then maybe at the state level they will lessen more of some of the things we had to do away with, like the screening and the hallway traffic.”

The loosening of the Covid restrictions inside the school led to a widespread celebration among students, but Mr. Wormald advises that opening up should happen with caution.

“I don’t see us not having to wear masks for the rest of this school year, but my hope is that we don’t have to start with masks next fall,” Mr. Wormald said. “I think we need to be careful about loosening up too much, but I think that these are two steps that we can take and feel that were still maintaining our priorities of keeping students safe as well as keeping our building open.”

Staff and students still remain hopeful during the final stretch of the school year.

“My hope for the remaining stretch of this year is that everybody stays safe so that we can reach that finish line; I just want this to be as normal as possible educationally, so that we can just see you students inside of school succeeding,” Mr. Lensegrav said. “Hopefully, next year we’re a lot more normal, but we’ll see how that goes.”

As of now, spring sports such as soccer, track and spring tennis are in full swing. And there’s high hopes that all other spring activities will be able to happen this year as well.

“The first new health order is what affects us most. Here is the language that allowed us to change our rule with prom,” Mr. Wormald added. 

As for graduation, it falls under health order number two since graduation is a large gathering attended by people other than students and staff members. 

“Of course, things may change. Just like we had to plan prom with no guests initially, when the health order changed we were able to change our procedures. So, the plans we have for prom and graduation today may change in the future,” Mr.  Wormald said. “That’s one of the things that makes this year so difficult.”

As the school year comes to an end, the students have also been putting forth a great effort in doing their part of keeping the school building open. 

“For the most part … the students have been awesome. We couldn’t have asked for better,” Mr. Lensegrav added.