NOTE: This story is part of a Point/Counterpoint Opinion. Follow this link to see the other side!

It’s well known that this past year has been especially challenging for everyone due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With that being said, students are having an especially hard time adjusting. Whether we are all online, hybrid learning, or all at school, there are going to be challenges involved, but some of them can be avoided if we stick to all online.
First and foremost, it is important to note that Covid is a very serious virus that needs to be treated with the utmost care. Therefore, students won’t be able to get the full amount of care they need at school.
Schools are breeding grounds for germs and, quite often, colds and viruses spread like wildfire. This would imply that Covid is likely to spread like that as well.
The school has implemented one-way hallways to help keep people six feet apart. Ironically enough, people are still cramped shoulder to shoulder while rushing to their next class, brushing past each other and violating personal space.
The bathroom is an entirely different topic of discussion. In a normal year, bathrooms are regularly neglected and left festering with mysterious smells and stains. Surprisingly, this has not changed.
I see custodians walking around and wiping door handles off a lot. Why isn’t some of this time devoted to cleaning the bathrooms more?
Although the discussion of Covid is declining, cases are still rising and breaking records. Just recently, the U.S. hit an astonishing 400,000 Covid deaths and leads the world in Covid cases by over 10 million cases .
Australia has devoted a lot of their time to social distancing and quarantining. They have almost completely eradicated their cases. On January 22, they were down to just 5 new cases a day. That same day, there were over 4,200 new cases in Ohio alone.
These cases will continue to grow if we are forced into enclosed rooms and crowded hallways. Going to school ensures that.
Masks are only partially effective. Especially when combined with exposure to large amounts of people, masks become virtually useless, especially with newer strands that are even more transmissible.
It is common to compare Covid to Influenza because of the miniscule effect on asymptomatic young individuals, but what about our elderly or immunocompromised community? Why should they be put at risk?
These innocent people are having to be sheltered from the world and live their lives behind windows and walls because thousands of ignorant celebrities are throwing enormous house parties in their multimillion dollar mansions and millions of other people need to crowd themselves in buildings full of people for some reason.
It is a lonely time right now, and it is a horrible feeling to not be able to see your loved ones, but it will be a worse feeling to lose them for good from something that could be prevented.
There are many low income families around Delaware that, if they catch the virus, could have detrimental or even fatal effects to their health. Medical bills are expensive and hospitals are filled to the brim with patients on the brink of death.

It is understandable to be concerned with jobs, schooling, and social lives, but if we just sheltered in place completely like Australia did, we could get our cases down tremendously. Getting the vaccine will be equally as helpful as well!
This has been going on for way too long because selfish people aren’t doing their part, so to be perfectly blunt, let’s cut the bullshit and heal so we can go back to business as usual: A normal world. A mask-free world.