97,840.

That’s how many people have been infected with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) since just Jan. 22.

With this in mind, and an estimated mortality rate of 3.4%, District 214 has decided to cancel all out-of-the-country student trips out of an “abundance of caution”, according to superintendent David Schuler. 

Senior Lizzy Farrar, an AP Italian student who was planning on going on the exchange trip, agrees with this decision as Italy has had a large amount of cases in the recent weeks at 3,858 cases.

However, she does believe that the district could have handled delivering the news better. 

According to Farrar, between the meeting to decide the fate of the exchange trips on Thursday, Feb. 27, and the release of the information of Tuesday, March 3, there was “radio silence”, where students had to wait in suspense for the districts decision.

As for getting the Coronavirus however, Farrar isn’t too concerned, as the virus only greatly affects the elderly and those with weak immune systems.

“I’m not like stocking on toilet paper at Costco, I don’t think there’s going to be terror in the streets,” Farrar said.

For more on the Prospectors coverage of the Coronavirus, click here.

**Information courtesy of worldometers.info and the World Health Organization as of March 6

photo courtesy of Wikicommons