By Rebecca Do
We’ve had a major COVID-19 spike.
COVID-19 cases reached a high on Jan. 3, the Monday after many high school students’ winter break, with one million daily cases in the US alone. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has posted guidelines that actually shorten the isolation period, even with Omicron looming large.
The FDA put out a statement on Jan. 3 that adolescents ages 12-15 are eligible for the Pfizer booster shot five months after their initial vaccinations. For Moderna, only adults are eligible to receive their boosters six months after their initial vaccination series.
Amongst the Omicron surge, the number of school closures has dramatically risen with pandemic-related school closings having gone from 1,029 on Dec. 19, 2021 to 4,783 on Jan. 2.
This same month, Associated Student Body (ASB) is hosting the Winter Formal, themed as “Lost in Atlantis.” The dance will be held on Jan. 29 at the Dana Point Ocean Institute. As of Jan. 13, FVHS has 119 students out due to COVID-19.
In a message to students via ParentSquare, Assistant Principal for Activities and Athletics Hayato Yuuki said, “Per CDPH guidelines, masking is always recommended for outdoor activities.”
“Masking for the event is strictly ‘recommended’ and not mandated. Though we would love to have every single student masked, we (chaperones/admin/staff) will do our best to try and keep that enforced. We will have masks there at the dance to offer to anyone that doesn’t have one as well. We also chose the Ocean’s Institute as a venue because of the two large dance floors that are outdoors. The one indoor dance floor that they have has two huge rolling doors that directly open to the outside,” Yuuki further said in an interview.
Can the mask recommendation be enough when students can become carriers?
We should not be holding a Winter Formal this year.
Orange County hospitals are filling up. Orange County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong said in an interview,“If you are looking for a test, if you have mild symptoms, please consider first a virtual appointment with your healthcare provider to not overwhelm the [emergency rooms] ERs even more because we really want ERs and urgent care to really just take care of the urgent situations.”
Though ASB does consider mask protocols when it comes to COVID guidelines, simply recommending masking to students is not enough. We must enforce it. Regardless of vaccination status, going maskless in public areas is not a choice we can make in good conscience.
The Omicron variant is more transmissible than the original SARS-CoV -2 variant was and even vaccinated people could experience breakthrough infections, the CDC says. Take into consideration the students at the dance with at-risk family members at home and how the people may become asymptomatic carriers if everyone does not take on the responsibility to mask up.
We should strengthen mask protocols and require them instead of recommending them at the Winter Formal this year. I urge students to take into consideration the people around them. Even if you haven’t been directly affected by the virus, the new strain is again, more transmissible than previous strains, and will undoubtedly spread unless everyone masks up.
