ACPS ends week two with 22 COVID-19 cases
Despite a shorter week due to the Labor Day weekend, there are seven more reported COVID-19 cases in Alachua County Public Schools.
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Despite a shorter week due to the Labor Day weekend, there are seven more reported COVID-19 cases in Alachua County Public Schools.
Coaches have a new series of stats to track this season: COVID-19 positivity rates and symptoms.
The first week of classes ended with 15 active COVID-19 cases in the Alachua County Public Schools district. Active cases are defined as any case reported in the last two weeks, the incubation period for COVID-19.
This story was translated by Kristine Villarroel
Though most districts in Florida are now officially open, the state and educators are still locked in a legal battle over school reopenings.
This story was translated by Kristine Villarroel
The masked school board members in the wood-paneled boardroom were evidence that the start to this school year is anything but typical.
First day of school pictures look a little different this year.
When the schools in Alachua County transitioned to online learning in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 12-year-old Jeremiah struggled to get his work done.
Students are heading back to school Aug. 31 — whether in classrooms, live Zoom sessions or a flexible online program.
Doctors on television are portrayed as heroes. That’s not to say they can’t be in real life, but as a patient who has seen dozens of doctors in hopes of finding an answer and feeling better, I’m jaded. In my story, more often than not, they’re the antagonist rather than the helpful figure I need.
College is a time of big changes for anyone. There are a lot of major decisions to make.You have to select your area of study and decide how you’re going spend your time on campus. The moves we make during these years on campus can outline the trajectory for our future. Making concrete and life-changing decisions can feel overwhelming. Things in and out of your control can affect your life path. Choosing one club or class can feel insignificant. But, on the other hand, one experience can illuminate a dream you never knew you had. Conversely, one class or club won’t make or break your life. A failure or a misstep can be a chance to learn or find what’s right for you.For me, this year has been especially crushing. I’ve felt stuck and frustrated due to how sick I’ve been. This summer, I wasn’t able to take on an internship. I’ve been in and out of the doctor and stuck in bed unable to focus on anything. I’m scared how sick I feel now is going to impact my future.Writing my columns for this Summer semester was really my only connection to a world outside of my phone, class on my laptop, bedroom or doctors’ offices. Sometimes I wrote what I needed to hear myself. Other times, I wrote about something impacting me in real time. Some things were reflective.For me, I’m glad I made the decision to write this summer for The Alligator. It taught me a lot about myself. I’m stuck on more than one decision for the Fall semester and grappling with the realities of what I can and can’t take on. More decisions being made by my body without my input.I can’t tell my body to give me more energy and magically function at its best. I wish it was up to running down Stadium Road or past Century Tower under a curtain of Spanish moss. I wish I could spend late nights on campus working in the newsroom or at The Alligator. I wish I could do more outside of my dorm bed and fill my UF bucket list to the brim with things other than going to UF Health Shands Hospital multiple times a week, not for an internship, but for visits.These decisions are made for me, by my doctors or by my health. I can’t change them as much as I want to. What I can do is make the most of the decisions left for me to make. College has taught me many lessons beyond the classroom, most of them about life. I may not have had my dream internship or campus experience yet, but I do have wisdom from my unique experiences that I might not have gotten any other way. And I do have wonderful professors, doctors, mentors and friends who have given me something that’s one of the most important parts of college to me: community.
As the end of the Summer semester approaches, weeks of hard work are coming to fruition.Libraries across campus fill with hordes of students. Amid the silence of focus, small hums of conversation focus on lack of sleep, cups of coffee and hours spent studying.It’s almost a competition. Who took the most credit hours, who did the most extracurricular activities or logged the most hours at work. Life is a never-ending game of quantity over quality. Our world often focuses on numbers. They define our acceptance into college, whether we move onto the next class and seemingly if we worked hard enough. Increasingly, life is about quantity over quality. That’s not to say numbers as a form of quantifying work is bad. However, our society seems to take this to an extreme. Sometimes these numbers feel like our worth. Sleeping less and doing more is rewarded in this world that revolves around work. It’s thought to bring more productivity. More tasks complete. More ideas. More effort. More progress. More money for a company. More job advancements. More and more and more. But what happens when there’s nothing left to give, like when at the end of the semester students are often sleep deprived and burnt out?Students should evolve the way they see their work. More isn’t always more.Working to the extremes of fatigue is dangerous. Numerous articles appear when you look up “overworking.”Overwork leaves your body run down and low on sleep. This leaves you as an easy target for illness. Stay on campus for a semester, and you can tell when people are getting tired. Everyone is sick.You’re likely emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted. Overworking can lead to less productivity for this reason. There’s a point when continuing to work or study ceases to be worth the loss of sleep.Studies on this topic go as far as to find that overwork can even lead to early death. This jarring statement shocked me to my core. Since I was an elementary student, the school system I learned in enforced the reality that more work equals more success. We were made to be test-taking machines, competing against one another for the highest grades and recognition.I think this is dangerous and needs to change. I’ve been on the receiving end of burnout. In a particularly tough school year, I was hospitalized four times. I have a chronic illness. Stress and lack of sleep make it worse.However, in my life, sleeping less and doing more was met with reward, which reinforced the need for my behavior. If I wanted to be successful, I needed to work more — even if it was at the cost of my health.Even outside of the school system, into college and onto the world of the job market, the same message of working more often permeates.I think adjustments should be made so people take care of themselves and don’t see time spent away from work as a consequence of more work or less sleep later.
Periodically, this story makes the rounds through headlines: Someone with an invisible illness has been publicly shamed for using accessible parking or other aids.
On July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. It recently passed its 28th anniversary, which means it’s been almost three decades of the official reshaping of society’s accommodation, perception and admission of disabled people.
Everyone is a different person with different needs. Diversity and inclusion are important. In journalism, there are so many stories to tell. But often, some voices go unheard.
I’ve had dozens of doctor’s appointments this summer.My medical chart classifies me as someone with high-risk medication usage.The people at my pharmacy know my name.I have more than five diagnoses, and they keep coming.I appear out of place in specialists’ waiting rooms and in society.Expectations for my peer group don’t align with the lifestyle I live or want to live.When I’m not in class, doing extracurricular assignments or studying, I’m at the doctor or recuperating with heat pads and ice packs in bed. I’ve never been out to Midtown or even a football game yet because I’m scared about my health and accommodations. An outing can cost me a semester if I’m not careful. Pushing myself doesn’t make me better. It can leave me in the hospital. But I keep doing it anyway because I want to be with friends, gain experience in my major and be a part of the UF community.It’s hard to balance society’s expectations with how I live. What is even harder is how I balance my own expectations and goals with where I’m at. I’m constantly at odds. Even in doctor’s offices, I’m misunderstood. I’m accused of lying or am not taken seriously. “You’re too young to have these problems,” isn’t an uncommon message from doctors. No kidding.Wishing or wondering won’t make my circumstances change. Pushing onward has a silver lining. I’m learning to find my voice, be an advocate and reason with professionals. It’s given me a different kind of strength amid my physical weakness. I hate pity. I just want understanding, especially in health care. If there’s anything my life has shown me, it’s that there is a health care gap. There’s specialized care for older patients but not for young ones with similar issues. That’s a problem.Worse than feeling alone and in pain is going to get help and being refused or unheard.This is a widespread problem. I’ve had to wait months for a diagnosis. I’m still waiting for solutions to other problems. That could take years. Worse than fighting to live “normally” is fighting to be heard and waiting, feeling sick and knowing something is off but jumping from doctor to doctor until someone finally listens. Then it’s waiting for test results. Then it’s becoming your own doctor. It’s turning to Google and scanning medical research and asking for, or demanding, tests. It’s researching at-home treatments.
UF’s campus is full of nature and, with it, sustainability efforts to protect it.There’s the Office of Sustainability, protected natural areas and extensive major and minor studies and classes concerning environmental issues or topics like sustainability, wildlife, agriculture, reporting and more.The signature live oak trees stand alongside Albert and Alberta, Century Tower, Gothic-style brick buildings and more as key elements that make UF’s campus.These trees that are perfect for hammocking can often be under-appreciated or taken for granted.Almost a year ago when hurricanes struck Gainesville, the historic tree in front the New Physics Building met its end. Riding past it on my 120 bus route down Museum Road, I noticed its missing place.
Health is more than emotional or physical ailments. It can also be the health of a physical environment, such as your dorm room or apartment. Plus, what’s in this environment can have a real effect on how you feel. Your brain can feel cluttered.
On Wednesday, I came across a viral tweet from a Twitter user in the United Kingdom named James Gleave.