The Mirror | Van Nuys High School | March 2021 | Volume 107 |Issue 3

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| MARCH 2021 | PAGE 2 theMIRROR SHUTTERSTOCK | AVDEENKO THE GREAT SOCIAL MEDIA CLEANSE I GAVE UP FOR 7 DAYS By BRIANA JASSO THE MIRROR STAFF I was not going to use social media for an entire week. The first two nights at 2 a.m. I rolled around restless because the thought of grabbing my phone and opening TikTok consumed my mind. I stayed up tossing and turning thinking about who was commenting on what funny video or who recently posted. There were many times when I almost gave up and wanted to redownload Instagram to stay in the loop. But I was up for the challenge. My Modern Literature teacher, Mr. Aaron Stell, assigned my class to either give up our phones entirely or give up social media for a week as part of an anti-consumer challenge he conducts annually so teenagers can confront their constant connection to the digital world. I had been wanting to rid myself from social media for a while. Now I had the perfect opportunity. I had hobbies I wanted to dabble into, such as learning a new language, learning more about math since I am not the best at it and planning out my future. I’d hoped to play around with these activities for so long but had failed to even begin because I was yet to confront my biggest enemy: my own phone. I’d spend up to 10 hours on my phone a day but I was always complaining about not having enough time for my interests. I knew deep down this was not the case. It was finally time to confront the truth. During my social media cleanse I got rid of Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok in order to release myself from the stress and negativity that the internet and social media bring. It was difficult not to t be on social media because it was a part of my everyday routine. I wanted to check in on friends and family as well as my favorite celebrities. I genuinely missed seeing both entertaining and educational videos and listening to TikTok songs that were in my head constantly. Instead of scrolling endlessly for hours, I decided to do productive activities throughout the day. I dedicated my time away from my phone to take care of myself mentally and physically. I went on daily walks around my neighborhood and enjoyed the nature I had long neglected in my time inside during quarantine. I read Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss, M.D which recalls the past traumas of his patients and highlights the journey towards recovery. I finished reading the book quite quickly because I had no handheld distractions. Throughout the week, I honed my language skills. I completed my French course on Duolingo and kicked off an Italian course. While I wouldn’t call myself fluent in French after learning it on Duolingo, I do consider myself a conversational French expert now. I even got the chance to practice driving for my upcoming driving test. Most importantly, I focused on school and got my grades on track by completing missing assignments. I also kept up with my current ones. The first two nights were the most difficult because I was used to staying up late at night on my phone — oftentimes as late as 3 a.m. All I wanted to do was grab my phone and watch something to ease myself into what I thought was quality sleep. What I realized following this experiment is that having my phone nearby cost me my restful nights. No matter how many hours I slept, it was never enough. But once I put my phone down, I found myself going to bed at 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. and actually waking up rejuvenated and satisfied. The week went by quicker than I had anticipated. While the first two days were a rocky start, I breezed through the rest of the week. It felt nice to disconnect and just focus on myself for once. So much of my overall mood was determined by what I was seeing online. I did, sadly, miss the announcement of Ariana Grande’s deluxe “thank you, next” album which I didn’t learn about until a week later. In my 10 years of being her fan, I have never missed an announcement on an album, a single or a feature on a song until now. I have redownloaded my apps since the experiment ended. But I’ve learned to control my activity and only use the apps when it benefits my mental health. I no longer feel the need to be on social media the minute I wake up and right before going to sleep. If or when I find myself falling into the trap of using social media as a constant distraction, I’ll certainly do this cleanse again. PH FOCUS SELF-CARE GIVE YOUR EYES SOME SCREEN RELIEF Staring at a screen for more than eight hours a day is definitely not easy on the eyes. A year into the pandemic, people’s eyes are regularly tired from staring at a brightly-colored screen for hours on end for school or work. The solution? Bluelight-blocking glasses. These glasses have specially-crafted lenses that filter out the blue light given off from digital screens to reduce eye strain and even improve sleep since blue light also tampers with the circadian rhythm that regulates sleep. Stop screens from ruining your day and choose from our pick of blue-light-blocking glasses. Cyxus $11.99 from Amazon Available in almost 15 different colors, these glasses are best for gaming since they are less likely to alter the color of your games. UVex $12.25 from Amazon With its unique design, these glasses are sure to draw attention. J+S Vision $21.00 from Amazon Best for daytime, these glasses block out 90 percent of the most harmful blue light. PHOTOS | AMAZON
theMIRROR | C U R R E N T E V E N T S | | MARCH 2021 |3 Variants vs. vaccines: Charting California’s covid-19 outbreak By ELEONORA BADIKYAN & ANGELINA GEVORGYAN THE MIRROR STAFF The current number of confirmed covid-19 cases has reached an all time high, progressing to a total of 3,528,795 in California, and surpassing a figure of 55,330 deaths resulting from the virus. Parallel to the rest of the world, California has endured innumerable difficulties on account of the pandemic in the past year and partaken in a continual race to combat emerging variants with effective vaccines. Shortly after the world became aware of covid-19, the distant virus originating from Wuhan, China rapidly spread throughout the globe, plaguing countless countries. On March 19, 2020, California issued a statewide mandatory stay-at-home order when there were approximately 13,133 confirmed cases present in the state. With the number of infections perpetually increasing and the summer of 2020 approaching, it was rumored that the warm temperatures and humidity of the season would aid in bringing an end to the pandemic, at least in California. Contrary to these theories, the heat brought by the summer months had an insignificant effect on the virus. By July, California was reported to have the highest number of confirmed cases in the United States, exceeding a total of roughly 400,000 cases at the time. As the sunfilled season concluded, it became evident that covid-19 was nothing like the common cold. This occurrence did not surprise Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Russell Klein. He presumes that the spread of covid-19 is instead more directly linked to the density of a population within an area. “I didn’t expect this virus to be affected by seasonal changes,” he said. “It really has more to do with peoples’ proximity to one another. In communities where there are dense populations and compact living situations, there has been a much higher rate of disease.” As scientists accurately predicted, a surge of infections struck the public in the fall. In the month of October, the California Department of Public Health declared that more than 810,000 individuals within the state were plagued with the virus, doubling the number of cases since summer 2020. Despite being advised by public health officials to continue wearing masks and maintaining physical distance from others, a multitude of people gathered in hazardous numbers to celebrate national holidays, many even failing to wear masks. This considerably augmented the risk of individuals contracting covid-19, and resulted in a substantial increase of cases several weeks proceeding the assemblies; throughout the month of January, the number of cases surged from approximately 2,345,909 to 3,258,706 in the state. It is now hypothesized that emergent variants of the covid-19 virus may have significantly contributed to this oppressive surge of infections. “Nobody really knows why the surge came or went away so fast,” Klein said. March 12, 2020 238 cases 4/30/20 50,556 cases Total covid-19 deaths reported in California over the past year Since the first case of covid-19 in California on March 7, 2020, the state has seen over 57,501 covid-related deaths. 3/31/20 180 SOURCE | COVID19.CA.GOV “But a lot of people think the variants were part of the problem. The surge’s deceleration could possibly be attributed to the vaccines.” The original virus strain classified as SARS-CoV-2, which represents “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2”, initially caused the covid-19 disease in humans. Throughout the ongoing spread of covid-19, this virus strain has sporadically mutated, causing thousands of slight, yet noticeable changes to its genetic composition, potentially making the virus more threatening and infectious. Currently, experts are focusing their efforts towards countering three specific variants. Originating from the United Kingdom, a variant classified as B.1.1.7 is predominant in a great portion of Britain and has spread to over 50 countries around the globe including the United States. In addition, the B.1.351 variant, better known as the South African strain, is now detected in more than 20 other countries also including the United States and a more recent variant regarded as P.1 first noted in Brazil has now been found in the United States and numerous other countries as well. These mutations have primarily affected the virus’s spike protein which assists it in entering and binding to human cells and augments the amount of virus a person emanates. And so, experts claim that these variants may be considerably more contagious, and may influence the response of antibodies differently than preliminary covid-19 variants. Specifically, research has indicated that the United Kingdom variant has the capacity to be approximately between 30 to 50 percent more transmissible. “Viruses always mutate, that’s what they do,” Klein said. “This has caused genetic alterations to the amino acid makeup of the spike protein. But there are certain substitutions of amino acid which induce a higher degree of resistance and possibly lethality.” At the moment, three covid-19 vaccines have been deemed safe and effective for the public’s use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first to be approved by the FDA with a 95 percent effectiveness rate, followed by Mod- 715,627 8/31/20 erna with 94.1 percent cases effectiveness. Johnson & Johnson is the most recent 6/30/20 232,859 cases 3/19/21 57,024 INFOGRAPHIC | THE MIRROR vaccine to be approved for public distribution. Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which has been proven safe and efficient for individuals who are 16 years of age or older, the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson covid-19 vaccines are considered effective and safe for people who are 18 years of age or older. “Being a healthcare provider, I received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in January,” Klein said. “As far as reaction, after the first shot I was fine. Proceeding the second shot I had a mild headache and fatigue, but it was gone by the next day.” According to the state of California’s covid-19 vaccine distribution plan, people can receive vaccinations from state vaccine hubs and federal mass vaccination sites, as well as pharmacies, health clinics and medical providers. However, such supplies are limited and only available to those eligible under each phase of the plan; at the moment, essential workers in agriculture, food, child care, education and emergency services along with health care workers are qualified to be vaccinated. Adults who are 65 years of age or older are also eligible to receive the vaccine in addition to staff and residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. These contemporary vaccines have been developed based on earlier versions of covid-19; although the present covid-19 vaccines have consistently proven to be effective against the previously existing variants, experts are concerned that these new variants might cause some complications. The Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have demonstrated the same level of efficacy towards the U.K. variant as against the original virus. However, all three have been proven to have reduced antibody levels when used to counter the South African strain. “As the vaccines really show no activity against it, there is concern surrounding the South African variant,” Klein said. In regards to the Brazilian strain, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has indicated the same level of efficacy against it as towards the original virus, whereas the Johnson & Johnson vaccine evidenced reduced levels of antibodies. In contrast, not enough data and statistics have been gathered relating to the Moderna vaccine’s effects on the variant in order to deduce a presumption. “There is worry that the Brazilian strain may be able to evade the current vaccines since it has genetic changes that make it more contagious, resistant and possibly lethal,” he said. “But there is not enough data yet to know for certain how vaccines that we have now are going to be effective against such variants.” 10/31/20 937,193 cases The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are presently in the process of being modified and altered in order to better combat such variants as they continue to emerge. Despite these medical advancements, Dr. Russell Klein advises individuals to continue behaving in a safe and cautious manner. “The Centers for Disease Control currently says that if you and others have been fully vaccinated, then you can take off your mask around those individuals and do not have to social distance,” he said. “For this reason people are becoming more relaxed and less careful. But theoretically, people who are vaccinated can actually transmit the virus asymptomatically, so I think people shouldn’t let their guard down.” As more adapted variants arise, scientists around the world remain dedicated to studying and monitoring these changes and mutations in genetic structure to slow the spread of the virus, in addition to ultimately terminating the terrorizing plague that is referred to as covid-19. Total cases of covid-19 reported in California over the past year March 12, 2021 3,618,956 cases With one of the highest number of overall covid-19 cases in the U.S., California has had close to 3,700,000 positive cases since the start of the pandemic. 12/31/20 2,308,097 cases 2/28/21 3,569,792 cases SOURCE | COVID19.CA.GOV INFOGRAPHIC | THE MIRROR
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The Mirror | Van Nuys High School | March 2021 | Volume 107 |Issue 3

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