Every UI student would probably admit that this last year was difficult. Chaotic hybrid classes, confused and tired professors and those who live on campus unable to see most of their friends. As just one voice who lived through it, the experience was as frustrating as it was depressing.
This year, students are eager for change, and they see a way out. There is the mass rollout of vaccines across the nation, the return of in-person classes here at the university and the lifting of dorm restrictions. I was also just one student who was there to see the disappointment that other students felt when it was announced we would still need to wear masks.
Despite all of the frustrations that have built over the past year, we are not out of the woods yet. The contagious Delta variant is ravaging through the unvaccinated in the country, but more locally, North Idaho.
According to the Idaho Statesman, Idaho has surpassed its highest number of COVID-19 patients in the ICU. The record previously held was 122 patients, but now it is 127.
As of the past few years, the Idaho Legislature has been slashing higher education funding because of what Republican lawmakers see as a liberal agenda. With Gov. Brad Little’s executive order, the university cannot mandate vaccines.
Last year, we weren’t sent home despite a close call with an outbreak on Greek Row towards the end of the first semester. Said outbreak caused 14 Greek houses to go under lockdown
The last thing the university wants is more outbreaks and the risk of that is higher with the Delta variant, classes returning to an in person format and the fact that the university can’t mandate vaccines. Though, I have to commend Scott Green, as well as the BSU and ISU presidents for mandating masks.
Yes, it is frustrating that things aren’t back to normal, but it’s foolish to act like things are normal just because we’re tired. If we pretend that they are, then we are only going to see the situation get worse.
Such can be seen in North Idaho as Kootenai ranks third in COVID-19 cases behind the far more populated Ada and Canyon counties.
It can also be seen in the southern United States as cases in Texas, Florida and others begin to surge. Less than half of Texas’ population is vaccinated, and Florida barely passes 50%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If the school can’t mandate that students receive a vaccine, wearing a mask is a small price to pay for the health and safety of others. Not to mention, refusing to follow basic guidelines is what has prolonged the pandemic in the first place.
Ellie Erickson can be reached at [email protected]