Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, restrictions have been imposed on the general public to stop the spread of COVID-19. As cases have dropped and time has gone on, restrictions have slowly become less limiting and are beginning to dissolve.
As people’s lives have mostly returned to normal, students are able to look back on how restrictions have changed. Senior Kylah Ferguson thinks that the school hit the sweet spot with how they are lifting restrictions. “If the CDC is getting rid of all of the restrictions, there is no reason we need to keep maintaining strict rules. I think people should stay aware about the virus, but they shouldn’t let it impede on their daily lives. I think it was a bit of a Goldilocks situation. It was a long but reasonable process and it was approached correctly,” said Ferguson.
The district has removed most restrictions, and the quarantine period is only 5 days for a student or teacher that has been affected by the virus, as given by government guidelines. The CDC officially ended the federal COVID public health emergency on May 11 2023, which lessened stress, and allowed many businesses and institutions to fall back to most of their normal ways.
While the trend in test positivity is steadily going down, as shown in the graph from the CDC, there are definitely still cases emerging. History teacher Mario Marcozzi had a run in with the virus recently, but he still agrees that restrictions should stay where they currently are. “At the moment, I believe our restrictions are adequate. While we see rises and falls in infection rates here in the Lehigh Valley, we also have developed more effective treatments for the virus as well as vaccine options. My parents were diagnosed only a couple months ago, and were fortunate to have a mild strain with very light symptoms, but it is something about which we should remain vigilant. We should always remain concerned and aware, since clearly the virus has not gone away, and will likely be with us for some time,” stated Marcozzi. He raises a good point that, even with cases going down, it will continue to linger within our society.
A different perspective comes from Lehigh University professor Edward Whitley. Between the collegiate and high school level, there are bound to be differences with covid treatment approaches, and the pace of how things returned to normal.
“I don’t think that Lehigh should have stricter COVID restrictions. I taught online for a long period, and the faculty was slowly allowed to come back and teach in person. Even then many chose to continue teaching online. It’s only recently that everyone has come back to in person instruction. COVID is definitely still a fact of daily life but I feel it is much more manageable. I think restrictions were not lifted quickly enough, and things lingered for longer than they should have,” said Whitley. These differences between higher and lower education are not vast, but it serves as an example of the different routes that institutions have taken when it comes to removing COVID restrictions.
As of right now, COVID is not a prevalent issue on the forefront of our minds. While the spread continues to decrease, cases are still popping up, and we should continue too be diligent in keeping ourselves safe and healthy.
