Our school started out having the lowest COVID-19 cases in the MISD area, however cases started to climb as our fellow peers began their face-to-face classes. With over nine million cases in the U.S. and climbing, I believe that individuals are starting to forget the importance of staying conscious, social distancing and wearing a mask correctly.

I don’t think it’s registering in students’ minds that COVID still exists and anybody is capable of attracting this illness, including their friends and loved ones. The thought of freedom and life before this virus has become more important than battling this pandemic. 

People were more afraid of contacting this affliction when it first came out than compared to now.  We have become too comfortable with not caring and risking our lives to go hang out with our friends. We seldom think about the people they’ve been around. Students should take into consideration how many people their friends have been around instead of having the mentality that they could never catch COVID. 

I completely understand that when we were in stay at home orders for a couple of months, students were dealing with many problems like depression, taking care of siblings and in some cases getting a job to help with bills. These are issues that they shouldn’t face as a teenager. I get where they’re coming from… they want to get out of the house and spend time in the world having fun, however, they should still follow the practices that will stop Coronavirus from spreading. I know this is hard and I want to do the same, however, we need to think about our family and face this pandemic together. 

Another thing I like to point out is that teachers should take into consideration that students are dealing with many factors in their life. Please don’t think that we are all just at home doing nothing. From freshmen to seniors, we are all dealing with new stress pertaining to school, work, siblings we have to take care of and last but not least, our own mental health. Life at home is not what teachers ideally think, mental health is key during this pandemic and individuals are not in their best state