Mental health concerns among high school students have been increasing as Omicron cases spike. 

Students already coping with mental health issues prior to covid seem to be very vulnerable to the changes. An additional number of people now also struggle with mental health related issues, who did not possess these issues before covid had started. 

A report by The American Psychological Association (APA) shows that 81% of Gen Z teens experience more intense stress due to covid. Things like social distancing and quarantining are the main culprits to these feelings of loneliness and isolation. Emily Gonzalez, a school psychologist at FLHS said, “It’s a very extreme difference, definitely much worse now than before the pandemic.”  

Students that struggle with issues at home are especially vulnerable during this time. For some it was losing parents to covid, like in a study by the CDC showing that more than 140,000 children in the US lost a primary or secondary caregiver due to covid. For others it was parents fighting at home while students were trying to learn online. 

“There were kids going through a situation where their parents were going through a divorce and they had to live in the same house,” said Gonzalez. 

Being stuck in a household that you aren’t happy in really affected many students during this pandemic. For many, going into school was their way to escape and being forced to be stuck at home all the time made students feel trapped and alone. 

Balancing family life, school work, and one’s personal life became very difficult and stressful for teens. Finding ways to cope can still be just as challenging with the rising cases. Sky Mount, a senior at FLHS says, “I used to workout a lot but the gym has gotten a lot more intimidating to go to because of covid.” Doing simple things to try and relieve stress is even too difficult to do sometimes today, so how are students’ mental health issues supposed to get better? As cases continue to rise it’s become more apparent that Covid is going to stick around, so it’s important to not let students’ mental health suffer because of a contagious disease.