AACC students this week said coronavirus is serious and they are taking the necessary precautions.

In an informal telephone poll, 5 out of 8 students said the coronavirus is serious. All of them said they were staying at home even before Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan enacted a stay-at-home order on Monday.

Hogan said Marylanders should not leave their home except to get to work at an essential job or a necessary reason, like picking up food or medicine or seeking urgent medical attention.

Second-year computer science student Christian Oldham said the coronavirus is a big deal.

“Some people are going overboard with stocking up supplies, but we should do too much [rather] than too little,” Oldham said.

As of Monday, Maryland had recorded more than 1,400 cases of COVID-19 and 16 related deaths.

AACC has closed all of its campuses for the rest of the spring term because of the pandemic, and classes will remain online for the rest of the semester.

First-year biology student Lindsey Santos said she agrees with the stay-at-home order and hasn’t left her house.

“Those that believe the virus isn’t as big as it is and are still going out are putting everyone at risk,” Santos said. “All it takes is one person to spread it to another.”

Santos said although she doesn’t like the idea of taking online classes, she respects college officials for “putting the students’ and staff’s safety first.”

Third-year transfer studies student Samantha Bonney said she feels that this pandemic is serious.

“How rapid the virus spread and how many people have contracted it shows how serious it is,” Bonney said. “So many lives have been impacted from this and even though people claim that the flu is ‘more serious,’ the fact that in a matter of a few months it … nearly infected 100,000 people in the U.Ss shows how easily contagious this virus is.”

First-year environmental student Courtney Belcher agreed that she she dislikes taking online classes, but believes they are necessary to contain the virus.

“The virus will still be around when [spring] break would [have been] over so it would just expose everyone,” Belcher said.

Third-year history student Luke Vogel said the coronavirus isn’t a big threat if everyone just stays home, and advised people to quarantine unless they’re forced to work.

Vogel said he is looking forward to the day his family receives a payment from the $2 trillion government stimulus package, which will deliver checks of $1,200 to $2,400 to some citizens.

“That [check] would help a lot because we have bills and if we can’t work how we going to pay them?” Vogel said.

But first-year speech pathology student Karianna Lamourt said people are overreacting to the virus.

“There have more been more deaths by the flu than the coronavirus,” Lamourt said.