Opinion Piece: Properly Handling the Pandemic

This past year, the unimaginable has occurred. The entire world has been put on pause for seven months, and we have truly been able to differentiate between necessary and luxury. Students were forced to move to online platforms, and from March to the end of last year’s school year, many students finished their studies while staring at their computer screens, sitting in their bedrooms. States and their respective counties debated all summer long on whether or not to allow students to come into school for the 2020-21 school year, and many, like ours, developed hybrid solutions allowing students to come into school while reducing their chances of infection. In states like California though, students were forced to complete the entire 2020 fall semester virtually. However, along with a surge in cases, there is word of schools shutting down again. So is it time to do what we did a mere seven months ago and shut down schools again?

After much research and consideration, I personally believe that no, we should not be closing down schools. Rather than blaming schools for surges, we should hold large indoor gatherings in which people completely disregard all COVID regulations responsible for these numbers. Community wide weddings are being held, people are holding large parties, and people are not abiding by CDC guidelines. Rules and regulations should be better enforced and unsafe gatherings should be shut down, because careful students should not be punished and subject to virtual learning again as a result of a community’s carelessness.