March 18, 2021
By Christa Ruiz
Staff Writer
March 13, 2021 was the last day of school for all students of LHS, and even most students across the nation. People were told there would be a two-week period of remote learning and then life would go back to business as usual, and everyone was thrilled to have two weeks at home. However, a year later, the situation has gone on longer than anyone could have imagined and changed everyone’s lives.
In the first few months of the pandemic, the importance of wearing masks, social distancing and staying home unless you needed to go out for a necessity was stressed immensely, and most people cooperated. Months passed, and the situation started to get better since people were listening, and cases were not drastically increasing. Restaurants started to reopen, curfews were lifted and people were more than ready to enjoy a slightly more normal summer than the last few months they had spent in quarantine.
However, cases have increased since these reopenings and attempts at going back to a normal society, and this time around people seem to care less about ensuring their own and others’ safety. There are currently more cases than there were in April of last year, and some people are not acting like it. People are having more large gatherings with friends and family, and by doing so, they are not taking into consideration the health and safety of other people, especially those at risk.
Many public facilities have stayed open and others are even beginning to reopen now. If people took it upon themselves to make sure they were socially distancing and wearing masks, reopening would not be as big of a risk. However, there have been many incidents where people do not wear masks and are crowded together in public spaces, which is why reopening has had a negative impact on how rapidly Covid-19 cases are increasing.
There are currently more cases than there were in April of last year, and some people are not acting like it.
With a vaccine being administered, the progress towards reaching herd immunity against Covid-19 is coming soon, but it is not quite there yet. The vaccine is being administered in phases, and the general public is supposed to have access to the vaccination during phase 2, which happens once phases 1a, 1b and 1c have been completed. With this said, people need to make sure that until herd immunity against Covid-19 is reached, they continue taking the proper measures to stay away from the virus.
2020 was a difficult year for everyone concerning Covid-19, as no one really knew what it was and what threat it posed. People understood in the beginning that there were precautions that had to be taken, but as months progressed with no major change to the situation, some people got tired of complying with these precautions like they used to. It is safe to say that everybody is looking forward to 2021 being the year where life can go back to how it was pre-pandemic, but this requires everyone’s cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
Covid-19 is not going to go away because everyone is “tired” of it, or else it would have been long gone. In order to ensure that this year is one where we get to say goodbye to the stress of living through a pandemic, people need to remember it is still crucial to wear a mask, social distance, maintain good hygiene and get tested. This is an experience we have all faced together, and we have to beat it together too.
