February 01, 2022
NEWS
03
101 COVID-19 cases since Jan. 3 BY AMY LIU
Story continued from front page. a case, Assistant Principal and COVID-19 designee Susan Rocha determines close contacts by establishing who was within six feet of the individual for 15 minutes or more. This is done by examining seating charts of the student’s classes and asking students who they were around during lunch or sports. Due to the surge in cases in the first four days following winter break, Rocha was not able to thoroughly contact trace and instead sent close contact emails to entire classes. “It’s very difficult to keep up with the contact tracing,” Rocha said. “It’s almost impossible. If you think about it, there have been 40 cases in the week after winter break, and every student averages five classes. That’s 200 classes we need to determine close contacts in, and that doesn’t include where they were at lunch or if they were in after-school sports.” Since then, the increase in cases has slowed, and the normal contact tracing procedure has resumed. As of Jan. 19, the definition of a close contact has changed to an individual who has shared an indoor airspace with someone with COVID-19. Close contacts are no longer required to quarantine, regardless of vaccination status. In anticipation of a surge in cases following winter break, FUHSD opened COVID-19 testing centers at each of the five schools on Jan. 3, set to remain in place until the end of the school year. Students and their immediate family members can take an Antigen test from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Mondays at Lynbrook’s former main office and the rest of the week at the other FUHSD schools. At this time, students who are involved in basketball, wrestling and music are required to take tests every week. “The line gets fairly long, but it’s relatively efficient inside the testing center,” said junior Harita Sunkara, who gets tested every week for basketball. “The testing center definitely helps
people feel safer. On a personal level, my parents feel more comfortable sending me to practice knowing that I’m testing negative.” On Jan. 4, teachers passed out at-home test kits provided by Santa Clara County during sixth period for students to take a COVID-19 test at home. It is unclear if Lynbrook will receive more at-home tests in the future. However, students can order up to four free at-home COVID-19 tests from the federal government online. “The intention was to get the tests out before students went on winter break so they could test before they came back, but that did not happen,” Rocha said. “The county ran short of supplies and we didn’t get them all in time. If students tested positive, they could quarantine because the understanding of Omicron is that there are a lot more people that are asymptomatic or have really mild symptoms, so they wouldn’t even know if they were positive.” Students also received five KN95 masks on Jan. 20. The goal is for a different mask to be worn every day and the set of masks to be reused each week. In an update from FUHSD on Jan. 14, students are encouraged to either wear a KN95 mask or double-mask with a surgical mask covered by a cloth mask. “We are handing out masks because there is research that if you have a different mask for every day of the week, then your masks will last longer,” Principal Maria Jackson said. “You don’t have to throw it away after each use.” Despite the procedures implemented to limit the spread of COVID-19 at school, many students and parents are worried about the risk of transmission associated with attending school in-person. 37% of the 231 responses from the Epic’s Instagram survey preferred remote learning, citing reasons such as not feeling safe and wanting to protect the health of their loved ones. “The COVID-19 vaccine ensures you experience less severe symptoms but doesn’t completely make you immune,” freshmen Anusha Shringi said. “Even going into remote learning would be beneficial as it could potentially help lower the spread of COVID-19
throughout Lynbrook.” However, 63% of respondents preferred to continue going to school in-person. Students mentioned reasons such as struggling to pay attention in an online setting, wanting to physically see their friends and not wanting to miss out on school events such as rallies and prom. “I would prefer to continue in-person school because I don’t want to miss out on second semester senior year events,” senior Aryan Dwivedi said. “COVID-19 taking away our on-campus experience, including major events like Silsilay, homecoming and powerpuff, was disappointing. So in hopes of that not happening again, I’d definitely be open to staying on campus, though I understand that health and safety is the ultimate priority.” At this time, Lynbrook will be continuing school in-person in accordance with County Public Health and Santa Clara County Board of Education mandates. “We, as a district, can’t make the decision to go to remote learning right now,” Jackson said. “The County Health and California Department of Education are not giving waivers for that to happen at this time, so going into remote learning without a waiver could mean an incredible loss of state funding.” Administration encourages students to continue wearing masks and social distancing, considering vaccination and boosters and staying home if sick. “Practice safety not only for yourself but for others too,” Rocha said. “I really think that this will get better. I know it feels overwhelming, but it won’t be like this forever.” Read what the Epic thinks about these policies on Page 5.
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY TANIKA ANBU
Upcoming Viking Events Coffee with the Counselors Come out to the cafeteria on Feb. 8 from 8:00 to 8:50 a.m. to chat with your guidance counselors! This event is only available for freshmen, sophomores and juniors. College List Workshops for Juniors Calling all Juniors! Attend the College List Workshop on Feb. 9 during tutorial to learn more about compiling a list of colleges. Valentines Concert On Thursday, February 10 during your third period classes you get to see a Singing Valentine. All Singing Valentine performances are that night at 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. Tickets are $5 on sale during lunch in front of the ASB office from January 31 to February 4 and at the door. Summer Planning Workshop The College and Career Center advisers will be hosting a workshop for freshman and sophomores on Feb. 11 during tutorial to help students plan their summer. FUHSD Middle College The Middle College Information Night will be held on Feb. 3 from 6 to 7 p.m. over Zoom. Applications are due Feb. 11. Coffeehouse Talent Show Visit the cafeteria on Feb. 11 from 7 to 10 p.m. to support your fellow Vikes at the Coffeehouse Talent Show! From singing to poetry, students will display their unique talents in this judgment-free zone. Goodwill Donation Truck Support Lynbrook’s Music Department by donating any clothes or small appliances under 50 pounds to the donation truck on Feb. 12. Feb. 18 End of Grading Period The first grading period of the semester will end on Feb. 18. Presidents’ Week Break No school from Feb. 21 to Feb. 25 to honor our past presidents. Enjoy the one-week break! By Tanika Anbu Photo by News Section
Four semifinalists for Regeneron Science Talent Search BY ELLIU HUANG
Luke Zhao
Alexander Zhang
William Huang
Kento Nishi
Augmentation Strategies for Learning With Insufficient Data In the data-driven world, algorithms require massive amounts of data in order to accurately model the world. However, many fields of research — rare diseases and uncommon objects — lack available data. Senior Kento Nishi combats this problem with transformations that magnify a small dataset by a thousand times.
Single-cell Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Genetic Drivers of of Fast/Slow Motor Neuron Identity
A Novel and Efficient Method of Persistent Homology to Detect and Remove Topological Errors in Triang Mesh Data
Motivated by his grandfather’s paralysis due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, senior Luke Zhao discovered the genetic code for fast and slow motor neurons, which may one day provide answers to debilitating motor diseases, such as ALS and spinal muscular atrophy.
Modern algorithms take nearly 20 minutes to find and correct errors in 3D models of human brains generated from MRI and CT scans. Senior Alexander Zhang improved upon these algorithms by more than six-fold by using patterns in 3D surface topology and geometry, shortening the runtime to only three minutes.
An Investigation of the Formation of Fast Radio Bursts In his space-breaking research, senior William Huang investigated the mysterious origins of FRBs, bursts of radio waves in the universe that have puzzled astrophysicists for nearly two decades. Huang’s research could revolutionize the way astrophysicists observe supernovae, calculate distance in the cosmos and study the origins of the universe.
PHOTOS BY TANIKA ANBU AND NEHA AYYER GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY NEHA AYYER AND LAUREN LIU
