According to the World Health Organization, the Coronavirus has now been declared a pandemic. As a safety precaution many local governments are setting restrictions on public gatherings. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom and the state’s public health experts are suggesting that large gatherings like concerts and sporting events, should be cancelled or postponed until the end of March. The state also recommends that gatherings should limited to less than 250 people. Due to this, Prom has been postponed until May 2nd. All tickets that have already been purchased will be honored for the later date.

All of Bassett’s field trips have been cancelled due to the California Health Department’s protocol that limits large social gatherings. Bassett’s Tri-M club trip to the Los Angeles Philharmonic concert has already been cancelled for this reason. “I’m kind of disappointed about the LA Philharmonic trip getting cancelled but at the same time, I understand why” Junior Bryan Cruz said.

Health Academy’s seniors were particularly hit hard because of the pandemic because their internship with Kaiser Permanente has been cancelled due to health concerns. Senior Breeana Zambrano said, “This was supposed to be an amazing experience for us to learn and shadow people in departments we were interested in. Now we won’t have our foot in the door, we won’t get our special Kaiser graduation, and we won’t get to have firsthand experience”. This year’s health academy class is the only class to not to receive this special privilege due to the Coronavirus.

Currently, the Bassett Unified School District has not cancelled sports, but many other districts are cancelling sports creating a lack of opponents. Even if games still go on, spectators are not allowed at any school sporting events.

Understandably, the teachers at Bassett are also fearful of this highly contagious pandemic. Mr.Maes for example is switching to an all-digital classroom by prohibiting the turning of assignments done on paper. “We have the tools already in place to go digital, it’s better that we limit our use of paper in order to make our classrooms cleaner.”

These types of restrictions are affecting all people, both locally and nationally. Big events like Coachella and Stagecoach are being postponed until October. The NBA is even suspending their season indefinitely due to a possible outbreak among the players. “It feels weird that the NBA season got cancelled since I haven’t seen anything like it before, but for sure it’s good for player safety” sophomore Len Bui said. Along with the NBA, the NHL, XFL, MLB, and MLS has postponed or cancelled their seasons. Other big events like concerts are also being shut down.

With one Coronavirus death in Pomona and 32 total cases in Los Angeles county, many people are advocating for the closing of schools across the county. “I don’t think the school should get shut down. I don’t think the risk of the Coronavirus is serious enough to shut down the whole school” Senior

Alexa Quezada said. In the event that school does get shutdown, us students would not have to make up the time later in the year. Schools across the country are also preparing for a possible coronavirus outbreak. The Los Angeles Unified School District has recently just announced that they are closing every school in the district until further notice. This decision affects 439 schools in the county. Now, our school has also chosen to go on a two week break, school resuming after March 27th.  Prom has also been moved to May. Stay tuned for updates.