On Oct. 4, at about 2:20 p.m. the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) along with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ran a nationwide test of the emergency alert system.

The purpose of the emergency alert system is to allow the president to speak to the American people within 10 minutes of a national emergency through their phones and other electronic devices such as television or radio.

Junior Devan Langlois stated, “The alarm was kind of an ‘eh’ thing because I remembered that it happened a long time ago, so I know that it was just a check-up because the government probably listens to everything.”

Some people were concerned about people getting caught with a second phone, such as domestic abuse victims or human trafficking victims who use them to contact family and support. Along with them, Eli Yoder, who is ex-Amish, revealed some members of the Amish community were kicked out of their community.

Elizabeth Martin is President and Chief Empowerment Officer at the Center of Women and Families in Louisville, Kentucky.

“If they do have a phone hidden somewhere, their purse, their pocket, their car, their bedroom, we’re very concerned when this test goes off, that it’s going to alert someone in the house that there’s another phone,” Martin said.

There were also conspiracy theories claiming the emergency alert would activate deadly diseases and claims that the emergency alert could somehow activate viruses in people who have been vaccinated, turning them into zombies.

“I heard something about how the frequency of the sound would affect the metals in your body. I don’t believe it, it’s like a flat-earth theory. No one I know has experienced any type of symptoms either. I don’t think anyone in this school believes any of those theories,” Langlois stated.

Along with Langlois, many other students of FVHS believe that the conspiracy theories are nonsense and speculation; some also found the alarm to be amusing.

Senior Noah Dawley stated, “I thought it’d be pretty funny since everyone has a phone in their pocket. I thought it’d be really funny to hear everybody’s phone in the entire school go off at the exact same time so I was looking forward to it. The conspiracy theories are ridiculous. Honestly, if they wanted to send signals into our bodies, they would’ve done that already. Does that mean every single Amber Alert sends signals into your body? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Despite some people believing in the dangers of the emergency alert system, experts and FEMA officials have dismissed those claims.

“The purpose is to maintain and improve alert and warning capabilities at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels and to evaluate the nation’s public alert and warning capabilities,” FEMA assured.

The test of the emergency alert system is mandated by 2015 legislation to take place every three years and can help save lives.