Lions. Tigers. Bats. Oh my! 

There are so many different theories about the development and spread of COVID-19. A few of the common ideas include: China made it on purpose, it was created to sabotage the 2020 election and the virus developed from bats. Some students believe in these theories, and some have also formed their own. 

Scare Tactic?

“The coronavirus is being used to bring fear into the American people, and it is being used politically. All the numbers with the coronavirus deaths are not accurate. Honestly speaking, I am not afraid of the coronavirus, because the Bible says [to] not fear the storm,” senior Jurman Williams said. “The storm could be finance [or] your parents getting divorced; this could be anything, and it could be a virus. So why should I fear the coronavirus? Also, I am an American citizen, so I’m not afraid. I’m brave.”

Accidentally released?

“I think it was made in a lab; I don’t think it meant to get released like it did. I just think that they were experimenting with stuff that they shouldn’t have been experimenting with, and it got out,” sophomore Anna Powell said. “With a virus, it can just spread with someone in there making it [or] somebody going outside of the lab.”

Naturally released?

“It’s probably some sort of bacteria that not many people had immunity to was released naturally, and the fact that our bodies were not introduced to it before is why it’s so contagious,” junior Beth Dietze said.

Decrease population?

“I think [the] Coronavirus was man-made in China to wipe out its own population. It didn’t come from anyone eating a bat,” freshman Kennedi McHenry said. “They took a cell from a bat and made it in the lab.”

God’s will?

“I think it is something that we should be concerned about, but we’re going to have to either just let it play out and still be cautious, not quarantined, or it will kill us all and that was God’s plan all along,” sophomore Ava Simpson said.

Rig the election?

“I do think COVID is real and a thing to be taken very seriously, but it’s a little ironic and suspicious that it appeared at the same time we had a huge, important election,” sophomore Addison Kemp said. “Also, it negatively affected President Trump and his chance for re-election.”

Bats?

“I think it came from the bats, because bats carry a lot of diseases. [If] you eat a bat for some odd reason, and they [could be] carrying a disease that nobody knows about, as in COVID,” sophomore Daryon Jackson said. 

Masks a hoax?

“A thin piece of cloth cannot protect a person from a virus, because the mask is porous,” sophomore Lakyn Austin said. “Viruses can easily come through holes in the masks.” 

“My mom is friends with some people, and they wear their masks very frequently, all the time, everywhere, and they still caught Corona,” freshman Reese Townsend said. “This thing is a hoax.”

Are masks important?

“Even though they don’t necessarily prevent you from getting the virus, they can help you protect other people,” sophomore Lydia Horton said. “If a minor inconvenience is too much to help other people, then that’s a problem with you.”

“Masks are very important and helpful because if we didn’t have them, it would be a lot easier to spread the disease,” sophomore Olivia Turner said. “A lot of times, you don’t know if someone has COVID for a few days. If you don’t know, they don’t know. They’re just coming in and breathing on you. [The masks] block COVID from getting on your face.”

Not a big deal?

“I think that people are making a really huge deal out of it. I think that there could be a simpler solution that people are choosing not to believe or just want to avoid,” senior Lily Sewell said. “We can move past it if people can just be on the same page about it, not make as big of a deal or maybe focus on other things.”

A priority?

“We don’t know enough about the virus to be able to say that it’s not worth being careful about,” senior Nickey Pappas said. “From what we know, it’s dangerous enough to focus on controlling until vaccines or other treatments can be rolled out. It would be better long term for the economy and everyone if we focused on controlling it instead of ignoring it.”

Though the start of the Coronavirus or how to handle it may never be agreed upon, one thing that is for sure is we are all anxiously waiting for the end of this pandemic. To go back to a life of no masks, no online work and no worry of quarantine. Maybe next year.