COVID-19 numbers are dropping since the beginning of the pandemic.
A few students on campus, such as Precious Escobar and Rhealene Arenas, mentioned having COVID in the past, but not being as prevalent anymore.
A first-year student, Elizabeth Ruiz, said numbers seem to be going down, but they might go up due to fewer people wearing masks and social distancing.
Los Angeles County reported a 60% increase in cases over the past two weeks as of Nov. 20. While cases dropped in October, they are increasing during the flu season.
Citrus students are no longer required to follow the mask mandate, but the college still recommends wearing a mask. Although the height of the pandemic has passed, it is still possible to get COVID-19.
Escobar said she caught it at the beginning of the pandemic but had no symptoms.
In contrast, Ruiz described her experience as tiring, including a sore throat, nausea and high temperature.
Former student Rojelio Muñoz, now a doctoral student at University of California, Irvine, said he caught COVID-19 for the first time in early September. Muñoz said he was vaccinated and boosted and was still able to feel the symptoms although relatively mild.
“It was just a really sore throat, a little bit more than I normally get with a cold,” Muñoz said. “Other than that just fever and chills, but obviously it’s not to be treated lightly it can be lethal for a lot of people.”
Muñoz also said that he had to miss his friend’s wedding, which was upsetting but he didn’t want to put people at risk.
Arenas said she felt being vaccinated helped not feel as many symptoms when she had COVID-19. Arenas also said washing hands and keeping distance might help in staying healthy.
Cases are still being reported and numbers fluctuate constantly, a few people such as Arenas, are choosing to continue following guidelines such as social distance to stay healthy as well.
See more information on cases reported in Los Angeles County here.
