As of the new COVID-19 procedures, students are required to wear masks and sanitize hands frequently. New hand washing stations have been placed around the school to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

“I don’t think the students are using them,” principal Joey McQueen said. “I just think they are not thinking about using them throughout the day.”

Students do not seem to notice the hand washing stations or care to use them.

“We just need to keep letting the students know that the stations are available,” McQueen said. “We can do a better job in letting the students know about the hand washing stations.” 

One of the reasons that students have not used the stations is that many did not know they were there.

“I don’t really notice them,” junior Brenden Burke said. “We already have sanitizer in the classrooms, which we’re required to use when entering or exiting. As long as the janitors refill the sanitizer in classrooms throughout the year that’s really all we need.”

Although several stations are placed throughout the hallways of the school, they are nearly irrelevant due to the lack of use and knowledge.

“No one has told me how to use them,” Burke said.  “I literally have no idea what to do at the station, so I end up walking past them and sanitizing in the classroom,” Burke said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) soap and water are more effective than hand sanitizers at removing certain kinds of germs. 

For more information about hand washing vs. hand sanitizer visit https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html