Winter Returns
By: Andy Horrigan
Come Feb. 11th, the first wave of students will make their way back to campus for the remaining sixteen weeks of the school year. At the time of writing, COVID is as bad as it has ever been in America, and over three times worse than it was during the fall term. Hundreds of thousands of people are contracting the virus every day, and the virus’ deadliest day in America occurred just last week. The current arrival plan described by Principal Rawson is pretty straightforward: when the students arrive on campus, they will immediately take a COVID test and then the campus will start a strict ten day lockdown.
Though I think it is safe enough to return to campus, we need to tread lightly. To ensure we are able to make it until June, we may need to limit or completely restrict some of the luxuries that we may have previously enjoyed in the fall.
The email principal Rawson sent on Jan. 12 seems overambitious stating that due to the Academy’s testing capabilities we should be able to maintain a bubble with similar guidelines as the fall.
However, a problem is that with the winter comes the need to be inside. A question that we now have to consider is how do we deal with weather. Meals and the majority of sports will be indoors, creating more situations where students could catch COVID. This brews an environment where we are almost defenseless against an outbreak, the virus could spread like wildfire on campus if one were to occur.
In the most recent webinar the administration held on Jan.15th regarding the return to campus, Rawson claimed that he hopes to have faculty vaccinated by the end of March. Until then, I don’t believe that it is safe for classes to be consistently meeting synchronously, despite Rawson’s reassurance.
Many teachers have a high risk of experiencing serious symptoms, so the administration must make decisions where teachers’ health is of utmost priority. For students, classes are just another place where they could transmit the virus.
Rawson also made several bold statements regarding the spring term. He hinted at the possibility of a spring athletic season, which seems impossible as a majority of the lower class would not be vaccinated, even if it was available, due to age restrictions.
Even with the 200 million vaccinations that President Biden has purchased the administration has yet to comment on what the vaccinations of students will be like. Will vaccinations be required? What happens if a student with an underlying health condition that puts them at high risk of getting sick with COVID refuses or is unable to take the vaccination? What are the priorities of the administration in these times?
Rawson’s promise in the webinar to get students regularly into the classroom during the spring term, regardless of health concerns of teachers, left a bad taste in my mouth. The problem with Rawson’s promise is that even after someone gets vaccinated, they can transmit the virus, which would put the families of teachers at risk of getting sick, a mistake they already made in the fall by not providing COVID tests to faculty families. It is even more unnerving when you consider that students under the age of sixteen cannot yet be vaccinated.
Easing restrictions without understanding the implications of having a partially-vaccinated community would not only be a foolish but negligible move on behalf of the administration. The administration needs to release their plans for an optimistic vaccination time, what the plans for a partially vaccinated community may look like and the contingency plan if there is a serious outbreak on campus.