Dylan Yoder
Columnist
Well, it’s that time of the year again. As schools begin gearing up for the new year kids become more anxious, parents become more relieved, and half of your local retailer’s merchandise is now labeled “Back to School!”. As we scurry about getting our kids and things ready for the new school year, several things become apparent. No one really knows what’s happening COVID-wise, we are all tired of COVID restrictions, and no one wants to do a repeat of last year’s school year. With all that being said, let’s size up the 2021-2022 school year for what it may hold.
First of all, starting with any COVID restrictions nearby schools may have. At the High school level, there are some things changing with the appearance of the new “Delta” variant of COVID. President Biden tweeted several days ago about a potential change in K-12 schools when it comes to masks. Retweeting the CDC new mask guidance charts. At the moment, the federal government seems ready to heavily recommend masks for the upcoming school year for high schools. According to the same source, it does not appear that vaccination status will have much of any effect on this mask guidance. The President also stated that the vaccine is the best combat we have against the virus. As more individuals become vaccinated, we can only hope that means the eventual drop of COVID regulations.
At the College level, much has changed, and continues to. Many colleges provide a weekly/monthly status update to their students and staff regarding COVID levels and any changes that may come because of those. Furthermore, some of those colleges are having difficulties when it comes to deciding what exactly the college will be doing come the fall semester. In Newton, Bethel plans to continue with an indoor-only mask mandate in hopes that the influx of students doesn’t spark COVID numbers on campus. Bethel, like many colleges, is striving to avoid a campus shut down after several months of online schooling. As for the local community college, HCC will be encouraging face coverings as well as practicing social distancing in the classrooms. They also have a new, interesting approach to getting students vaccinated. By offering them money. That’s right, if you are an incoming student to the fall semester on the HCC campus you can receive campus-store credit to your account. Whether this new strategy will pan out or not, remains to be seen.
Regardless of how different schools are handling this issue, we’ll get through it in due time. Just like we always have, we will persist to see the new day. That’s the attitude that most cities and other public places are handling this issue anyways. Places like northern Wichita, Hutchinson, and others have had quite enough of this. They, like most cities, have gone mostly maskless. The reasoning is that some of the population is vaccinated, and thus, it is more difficult for COVID outbreaks to occur.
Overall, the outbreak has been dealt with for a long time, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we’re tired of it. The virus has overstayed a welcome that wasn’t there in the first place. Or rather, the effects of the virus have overstayed. Schools, businesses, and our lives have been impacted for far too long, we deserve to catch a break from this at long last. Let’s hope that with the dawn of a new school year comes a brighter day.
