During the changing from fall to winter, it seems that a lot of students tend to catch a cold. But why are students coming to school when they are sick? Do they realize the effects of their poor decisions?

Bacteria are everywhere. They cause infections, and when one person spreads bacteria to another person they are potentially spreading a disease. We cannot see these bacteria, but everything you touch contains these living, breathing organisms. They live in colonies, and reproduce quickly.

If you can help it, keep others safe by staying home when you’re sick.

“I think about the other students that I’m affecting by coming to school when I’m sick. I feel really bad, but it’s harder to get caught up when you miss a day, so I come to school anyway,” junior Sofeya Mewes said.

When one student brings their cold to West, they are potentially spreading that cold, and its bacteria, to roughly about 1700 students. Being in close proximity with these students can cause a disease to spread quickly to more people. If you don’t like being sick yourself, then stay at home and don’t spread your sickness to other students.

“I tend to stay at home when I’m sick, unless I just have a sore throat or stuffy nose. School is more important than staying home. I only miss school if I’m terribly sick,” senior Trenton Smith said.

It is true that staying home sick causes students to miss important lessons and instruction, but think about the consequences that could happen if a student got so sick from another student that they ended up in the hospital. Being in the hospital could cause students to miss a lot more school than just staying home sick.

“When I am sick and planning on staying home the night before, I think about the things I would miss. I try to do these things in advance so I ultimately don’t have to make anything up,” junior Ben Gabriel said.

There aren’t just a few viruses that can cause cold either. There are over 200 different kinds responsible for causing a cold. Any of these 200 can cause 16 million offspring within the course of the day, according to Hopkins Medicine.

To think about all of these offspring among West students. It would come to about 7777.77 per student. That’s a lot of offspring that could come from one student being sick. Put that into consideration next time you decide you’re “healthy” enough to go to school.

“I think it is disgusting when people come to school sick. I feel like they should just stay home because they shouldn’t be getting everyone else sick,” Gabriel said.

Next time you’re sick, think about others and keeping them healthy. You can always make up homework, but you can’t make up weeks at a time of school. Stop bacteria from spreading and stay home.