By Tommy O’Neill//
I’m not sure how much more flexible I can be with the back-and-forth changes in CDC guidelines. At this point, I feel like I might snap in half.
On July 7, Andrea Chapdelaine, president of Hood College, sent an email saying that COVID-19 guidelines on campus would be lessened, and masks would be optional. Students were required to send proof of their vaccination cards in order to be on campus.
This news was a ray of hope; to not have to follow so many COVID-19 restrictions would be a breath of fresh air (literally). Being vaccinated meant that things could finally go back to normal… right?
On Aug. 3, students at Hood College received another email from Chapdelaine that said, “In order to prioritize the health and safety of our community, effective immediately, we are reinstating a mask mandate on campus for all faculty, staff and students, as well as visitors.”
This statement was in direct contradiction with her previous email.
By this time, some students were already living on campus and residential assistants had just moved back into the dorms. This sudden change in guidelines forced them to quickly adapt to that change just before the fall semester began.
News of this made some students on campus frustrated.
“I’m really disappointed that the rules have been changed again. I’m worried about having to wear one all the time while I’m on campus and in class,” Danielle Pong, a sophomore living on campus, said.
I believe that if you are vaccinated, you have the right to decide if you want to wear a mask or not. Being vaccinated and wearing a mask is more than enough protection from the virus. Masks are necessary to those who do not have the vaccine, but to those that do, it should be up to their discretion if they want that extra layer of defense.
On Aug. 25, Hood hosted a pep rally where hundreds of students came to see the new athletics logo that was being presented. Everyone was outdoors and nobody was wearing a mask despite the crowd being packed like sardines trying to get free T-shirts. Isn’t that more dangerous than to not wear a mask indoors?
I fully support those that choose to wear a mask wherever they go if they are vaccinated because it makes them feel more comfortable to be in public. I still wore mine for a while during the summer when they weren’t required, even though I was vaccinated. After a long time of wearing them, you begin to feel like not wearing one in public is wrong.
I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I’m tired of wearing these masks. Students and faculty wear them for hours and hours a day since they are required to be worn inside of all campus buildings. This summer when COVID-19 cases were not as high, it was nice to even get just a small break from having to wear a mask wherever you go.
Thankfully, this semester, things already have proven to be better than last semester when it comes to COVID-19 restrictions on campus. Being back and seeing a lot of students on campus reminds me of how things were pre-pandemic. Having all in person courses has been a plus too since online courses were hard to sit through.
I hope that we can lower the numbers again to be in a state of not having to worry about keeping a mask on or off wherever we go.
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