Author: Karen Chen, Inaya Yusuf, Sophia Zhang, Alex Li
Date: April 24, 2022
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As of March 14, Evergreen Valley High School removed the mask mandate on campus, giving students the choice to wear masks indoors. While COVID-19 is not yet dormant, drops in cases on campus have opened the opportunity to the campus.
According to a voluntary survey conducted on Schoolloop, a majority of students have opted to continue wearing masks with 92.6% of students deciding to continue wearing their masks. Despite the number of cases on campus lowering compared to the period after Christmas break, many students and staff opted for a cautious take on COVID-19 and decided to continue wearing their masks.
“As a class, we did surveys for all three sections, and we found that the majority of the students wanted to wear masks. They wanted their friends to wear masks, and they also expected us teachers to wear masks, so with that, my decision to continue wearing a mask was a community approach,” said Mr. Cheadle, an AP Biology teacher at EVHS.
Previous breaks from mandating mask wearing or COVID protocols on campus have also brought concerns on fully removing masks.
“In the previous, sort of pull backs on COVID protocols, there was a spike, and so I’m waiting to see how that plays out and staying on the more conservative side of that,” said Mr. Griffin, an English teacher at EVHS.
Likewise, as AP exam season approaches, many students, such as Joshua Ng, a junior at EVHS, are keeping masks on to stay on the safe side and prevent possibly contracting any illnesses during exam season.
“There might be a sudden wave that returns and I'm scared that, obviously, that I get sick because we’re about to go into AP testing season and I’m not really confident that I have the capability of studying so much as if I’m sick,” said Joshua Ng, a junior at EVHS. “That’s the biggest thing for me is that I want to make sure that everyone, myself and those around me, are healthy so they can do their best.”
Alyssa Wong, an EVHS sophomore, corroborated this, noting that while she could probably take her mask off since EVHS cases aren’t that high; “I personally just feel more safe with it on.”
Wong’s younger sister is also still too young to get vaccinated, adding to her concerns. More lightheartedly, she pointed out that “ it’s … cold, and the mask is like warm.”
On the other hand, a smaller number of students and staff on campus (7.4% according to a voluntary survey on Schoolloop) have decided to take off their masks. The removal of masks, paired alongside with the return of many school events that were previously canceled, can help bring normalcy back for many individuals.
“I’ve been trying to just live my life and just as normal as possible without restrictions to try to see if that’s the healthiest way for me,” said Ms. Kuch, a Psychology teacher at EVHS. Although Ms. Kuch has an autoimmune compromised immune system, she has decided to remove her mask. However, she does keep a mask around incase of any situations where they’d be needed.
Others who have decided to remove their mask express that varying circumstances play a role in how comfortable EVHS staff and students are. Mr. Martinez, a Spanish teacher, explained, “After the mandate dropped, I decided to stop wearing a mask because I am fully vaccinated and boosted. I also live alone so there isn’t the risk of me infecting someone else.”
However, Mr. Martinez did express concerns for the future, mentioning that there is the possibility of “a new variant [that could] come along that we’re not aware of,” while adding that EVHS has “been pretty good at following the CDC mandates and just following the science behind the virus.”
According to a voluntary survey conducted on Schoolloop, most students have stated that they were either comfortable (37%), very comfortable (18.5%), or had no preference (14.8%) concerning the removal of the mask mandate for other students. Most students on campus don’t seem to be very bothered or concerned with the changes due to factors such as a smaller population deciding to not wear masks and relatively low numbers in cases of COVID in recent months on campus. Additionally, students often already take their masks off during break or lunch while eating or participating in physical activities such as school sports.
“People who have their mask half on are just going to take it off, and it's the same,” commented Wong, adding that few people in her classes have taken their masks off, “so it’s not a big difference to me.”
Many of those who are concerned with the removal of the mask mandate are worried about the possibility of COVID spreading. With seasonal allergies, the flu, and other viruses coming up, some students are concerned that the prospect of removing masks may lead to greater rates of COVID due to coughing, sneezing, and other symptoms of allergies and the flu.
Overall, the precautions EVHS community members have taken have slowly begun to mellow down after Christmas break.
“At first, I was, like, super scared … I would spray my desk and wipe it down everyday,” said Wong. Wong observed that after Christmas break when COVID-19 rates on campus spiked, “People … kept their mask on and would double mask.” However, as COVID-19’s impact on campus has lessened lately, and because sanitizing was tedious, she says that “ I have kind of, like, let go on some things.”
Moving forward towards the end of the school year and next upcoming school year, we may be seeing chances of masks being less prevalent if COVID rates stay low after summer break. As we progress, COVID will likely become similar to the flu and hold a permanent position in viruses we’ll need to be vaccinated and stay cautious of.
“I think next year, when August comes, I’m going to re-establish what the important values are and redefine what mask wearing looks for me and the students at this school,” said Mr. Cheadle.
To end the school year on a higher note, Ms. Kuch advises students to make sure to complete their work on time. While COVID is still an ongoing concern, a step towards returning to our normal routines includes bringing in good habits for participating in class.
“A lot of students still think distant learning is what is going on here and it has been kind of stressful for teachers because the amount of students not making up work or not being held accountable for something they’ve missed,” said Ms. Kuch.
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