After many strains of COVID-19 have emerged, students at McIntosh High School have started forming clubs around their “favorite” strain. So far, clubs Delta and Omicron have the most members, but lesser-known strains have emerged as well.
When asked why she joined the Dominant Delta Disease club, junior Alice Wickerbasket said, “I know people think it sounds dumb, but we’re really helping spread information on the Delta strain.”
Their rivals, Micro Little Omicron, have a slightly different take. The founder of the club, senior Troy Monabaig, said “This club has reached way more people than Delta, and they’ve enjoyed our activities a lot! We hope to reach almost everyone by the end of the school year, or die trying,” when asked about his main goal for the club.
Smaller clubs with lesser-known variants in the US have also sprung up, such as the Gamma Gamma Club, founded by foreign exchange student Antonio Santos. “I am from Brazil, and seeing these other clubs made me realize most people here do not know strains from other places in the world,” he said when asked why he started the club. The coronavirus strain Beta has yet to receive representation, possibly because Beta Club already exists, for a very different reason.
Some students are worried about the message the clubs are sending. “Covid is killing people, we shouldn’t have, like, fan clubs over which strain or mutation is doing the job. I can’t believe these clubs were approved,” sophomore Janet Bonkil said.
“If the clubs aren’t spreading misinformation, I guess that’s okay,” senior Troy McKay said. “But I personally would never join, it just doesn’t seem right to me.”
Other students support the clubs. “We need to raise awareness towards this stuff, I didn’t even know the Gamma variant was a thing until my friend told me about the club,” freshman Sofia Hernandez said.
“Personally I’m looking forward to joining one of these clubs,” said junior Zack Crackerman. “I know of a variant that not many people know of called the Alpha variant. I’m thinking of starting a new COVID club myself.”
Each club researches on their specific variant. Some believe these clubs are helpful in spreading information on how exactly these variants work. “As club vice president of the Delta club we only research on the Delta COVID strain and everything related to Delta,” sophomore Creg Mossgard says.
When asked why she joined the Omicron club, freshman Ava Reese said, “I just want to help spread the word that these strains are still out and people are still getting very sick.”
Many students are still hesitant about these clubs because of various rumors circulating. “I’ve heard rumors that these clubs are against face masks,” junior Morgan Mobely said.
Members of the clubs have refuted these rumors. When asked if these rumors were true or not, a member of the Omicron club sophomore Landon Maxwell said, “No, these rumors aren’t completely true.. Yes some of the members aren’t in agreement with masks but not all of us are against face masks.”
However, other members have a different perspective to share. Sophomore Zara Quill said, “The Omicron club has been experiencing internal conflict, some of the members don’t agree that face masks are necessary.”
“As a member of one of the COVID clubs I don’t feel the face masks are needed,” senior Helga Scroll said, “These variants do need to be talked about and researched but at this point we are no longer in a pandemic.”
Not all of the COVID clubs are having these internal conflicts. Freshman Sarah Gregmen said, “Face masks are totally necessary, and the Delta club always wears a mask before, during, and after all club meetings.”
Only time will tell if the message these clubs send will help or hurt the McIntosh student body. Senior Lexi Condor said, “I hope these clubs realize the influence they hold, and use it for good.”

This story is a part of The Trial’s April Fool’s Day satirical issue. This story is fake.