We are living in our “new normal” while the same pandemic that haunted us in the summer of 2020 is still rampant.
When I was told that I would be attending school in person, quite honestly, I was scared.
My sister had just had my nephew and I was getting used to the monotony of Google Meets and online AP exams. Mostly, I knew that the United States was struggling to reach 94% full vaccination for herd immunity (Mayo Clinic).
We are living in the long-promised “new normal.” I have classes that are completely full with nowhere to safely socially distance, and the lack of stairs at my school, in particular, creates a bottleneck every bell break that just feels like a COVID-19 breeding ground. It should be noted that the Palm Beach School District’s full transparency about the number of cases in schools and the strict implementation of seating charts for contract tracing is working. However, there are so many other factors — students refusing to wear masks, packed classrooms, and the increased transmission of the Delta variant — that lend themselves to my apprehension about the rush to open schools.
Still, one reason overshadows them all: the lack of vaccination across the United States.
Taken from Angelique Rambally (12th). Atlantic Community High School is one of the larger schools in Palm Beach County. The Palm Beach County School District has 192,533 students across 236 schools according to U.S. News and Reports.
It seemed that we were on a roll with the aggressive vaccine campaign that President Joseph R. Biden rolled out. I would listen to the radio, and in an interesting stretch to get Black Americans to get the vaccine, broken AAVE would eke out phrases that made little to no sense, but overall pushed the message: “Get the vaccine to help your community.” I couldn’t go on YouTube to see another beauty blogger speak to Joe Biden about vaccine hesitancy and urge people to get the shot. Olivia Rodrigo, the soundtrack to most teenage angst at the moment, also met with President Biden in the White House to urge her young fanbase to get vaccinated by reading vaccine tweets with Dr. Anthony Fauci. Sometimes I wish that Normani had the same press team as the vaccine.
For a while, this strategy proved effective! People were getting vaccinated! Hooray! As Meghan McCain once eloquently said, “I trust doctors, and quite frankly I would let them put an iPod Nano between my shoulder blades if it means I can get drunk at Caesar’s Palace again.” Many people yearned to return to life pre-COVID, but the sad reality is that we can’t. Not unless people get the vaccine.
A study from the Imperial College of London found that “children and adults under 50 were 2.5 times more likely to become infected with Delta’’. Part of the issue is that the vaccine has not been approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for children under 12. Once again, I feel like I’ve suddenly been transported back to 2020 when buying toilet paper was all the rage and I was terrified about the thought of catching COVID. Only that fear is heightened. None of the safety nets that were placed to protect Americans from being infected and spreading it are in place. People are being weaned off of vital programs like unemployment and asked to “think of the landlords during this trying time” while the Supreme Court of the United States deemed that the eviction moratorium will be struck down. Goldman Sachs reports that 750,000 Americans are at risk for eviction while another 2 million are behind on their rent. But, yes, think of the landlords.
Taken from Michael Dwyer at the Associated Press. Although the eviction moratorium was ended, President Biden was one of the voices that are urging state and local governments to pause evictions.
And of course, because it’s the United States, it cannot stop there. Republicans are claiming that horse dewormers will cure COVID. Senator Rand Paul claims that scientists won’t evaluate its effectiveness because of their hatred for Trump. As someone who took both shots and has family working 12-hour shifts in COVID units that are simply overrun and out of beds, the vaccine is the easiest and safest way to protect yourself and the people around you.
While horse dewormers works for horses, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson’s COVID vaccine is FDA approved and readily available (for free!) and works for humans. Please do your own research by looking at credible sources to make an educated decision about the vaccine. And if you are able to, please get vaccinated so we can all live like Meghan McCain in Caeser’s Place.
Use https://www.vaccines.gov/search/ to find the nearest place for you to get vaccinated.
Dedicated to my father, my personal hero, who has been fighting COVID for the past year.
Written by Amanda Jesuca, with special thanks to Kate Payen, Ajani Martin, and Audirius proofreader, Bella Oglenski.
