By: Daniela Karolidis
Coronavirus has affected every person, all over the world. For most of the past year and a half, we've been held up in our homes with nothing more to do than watch some trashy tv show and try out recipes we’ve seen online; So, understandably, we are all delighted to be back at school full-time, finally experiencing some sense of normalcy. However, being back at school does not insinuate that we are out of the woods when spreading COVID-19.
I have been astonished by some of my peers and teachers' resistance to wearing masks correctly, or at all. Not everyone is at fault here, but even a handful of people is enough to cause harm. If mask-wearing came down to affecting yourself, then I wouldn't have an article, but unfortunately, that's not how it works. Yale Medicine's Manisha Juthani, MD [Professor of Medicine (Infectious Disease) and Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)] says, "The virus that causes Covid-19 is thought primarily to be transmitted through droplets so when people are coughing, or communicating in any way, and they expunge droplets from their mouth, those droplets can transmit. We want to try to prevent those droplets from getting into the air and potentially to someone else."
Safety is a circumstance I feel I should not have to worry about as a student. I shouldn't need to remind a classmate to pull their mask up or feel uncomfortable because my teachers pull them under their chin. I am disappointed to know that if someone in my class is wearing a simple black hoodie and no face covering, my teacher's first instinct is to tell the student to get into uniform rather than asking them to put a mask on.
Safety is an issue that many of us are preoccupied with. I have spoken to many of my peers and friends who agree that a change is needed to protect our school community. You may be considering that cases are relatively low, and there hasn't been a case at the school this year. Both are true. However, in a pandemic, I think it is better to be safe than sorry. Especially going into the winter and Holiday season, when people see family and friends inside versus in the summer when they could meet up outside.
The CDC says to wear a mask properly, you must ensure that it covers both your nose and mouth and is securely around your ears. When wearing blue medical masks, make sure the darker part is facing outwards.
As Catholics, we believe that we need to take care of our neighbours and treat each other the way we would like to be treated, and I think this is our time more than ever to live out those values. No one enjoys wearing masks, and everyone wants life to go back to normal, so let's take this minuscule sacrifice and fix this together so we can get back to normal as quickly as possible.
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