Students fear the spread of the UK COVID-19 variant could put a halt to their return to in-person classes this fall.
The u-k variant b-117 is spreading among young adults... action news now reporter dani masten is live at chico state and spoke to students who fear this could put a halt to their return to in-person classes this fall.
Some students i spoke with today here at chico state were very concerned when hearing that this variant impacts their age group the most.
Campuses accross the state continue to look like this..empty.
Univeristies like chico state are to return to in- person classes this fall but students fear this variant could interfere.
Cole murdock/student at chico state "that is kind of concerning if we do have to stay online for another semester...maybe even a year."
Fifth year mechanical engineer major cole murdock tells action news now - trying to finish his last year of college hasn't been easy.
Cole murdock/student at chico state "it has definitely been a lot harder to learn.
I feel like it has been more of doing assignments and not too much learning.
I just started my capstone project where we have to be very hands on and it is hard to actually do stuff."
The b117 variant was first detected in the u.k and quickly spread to over 200 countries..
Dani masten local health experts say the variant is extremely contagious and says it is important this age group gets vaccinated so they can return to campuses like chico state.
Matt miles/infectious disease physician "<the concern is that we are going to get more variants down the line and we can't tell what those variants will look like but the real point of getting vaccinations done and getting the population vaccinated is you then provide less of an opportunity for that virus to propigate itself in the population to replicate itself because the more it replicates the more likely you are going to get mutations and these variants are going to potentially develop.
Students tell me this has prompted them to want to be more cautious.
Cole murdock/chico state student damaris benabides/chico state student "definitely...it kind of makes me think maybe i should be at home."
Lauren belting/chico state student "our whole age group can work harder to get this over with because now it is affecting us more."
Cole murdock/chico state student "yea, i really do hope we can return back to classes soon and everyone can recieve the vaccine."
Miles tells me we are mainly seeing this variant detected in people who are in their twenties, thirties and fourties.
Live in chico- dani masten, action news now, coverage you can count on.
Dr. anthony fauci said saturday - doubling down on safety measures, masking up, social distancing, avoiding crowds, coupled with quick and efficient vaccinations can help curb another
There has been warnings for momths about the spread of Covid-19 variants here in the U.S. and now one of them has become the..
