Spring Break is the third-longest break of the whole year, only behind summer and winter breaks. It has a length of one week (nine days if you count the weekends on either side of it) which is ideal for families looking to travel to new cities, visit family and friends or take a ride at an amusement park. However, due to covid concerns, some families’ ideal spring breaks turned into a lazy span of naps and boredom.

Covid has been a looming concern ever since that infamous Friday the 13th in March 2020, but there was reason to be extra concerned leading up to Spring Break this April. According to the CDC’s website, during all of Covid, the biggest spikes in cases were in May 2020, January 2021, and January 2022, with minor spikes in April 2021 and September 2021, all after the big travel holidays. Due to the massive spike in January 2022, which was the biggest of the whole pandemic, people are worried that a similar spike will happen during the travel frenzy.

Covid Tracker from the CDC

Even with these troubles, an estimated 37% of U.S. citizens planned to travel this spring break, which is way more than the 29% who planned to travel last year, according to vacation rental management group Vacasa. With a fair amount of people in the U.S. planning on traveling and a new omicron variant upping everyone’s chances of catching covid on a plane; it’s now two or three times more likely than before, warns Bloomberg, in their article “Omicron May Double Risk of Getting Infected on Planes, IATA Says.”

Student Karam Abuarb was supposed to go to Italy.  Instead, he didn’t even leave the state, opting for Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg.  

“I feel like covid has ruined my life and that it has thrown me off a mountain with my hopes and dreams being crushed,” Karam exclaimed melodramatically.

Another student, Luke Jester, wasn’t affected as much since most of his family lives close to here. Though, he still lost some experiences, including seeing his grandparents who live in California.  Even though his Spring Break wasn’t affected, he is still feeling the impact over time of pandemic-related travel changes.

“We were gonna go to Portugal last summer, but it got canceled. It’s kinda annoying when you don’t get to go somewhere that you wanted to go.”

This spring is now two years after Covid’s start, with new variants still running strong. While normally, people wouldn’t travel under such conditions, people are tired of staying in one place and instead are planning trips. 

This has caused many to plan trips. With people going places all over, it’s no surprise that many people are worried about a new spike in Covid. Regardless of whether you traveled to another country in the world or to another room in your house, hopefully, you stayed safe and enjoyed your spring break.