Returning to school is a bad idea 

Dear Mountain Echo,

We all understand that this past year has not been ideal. We all lost something, whether it be related with school, friends or family. I know some people/teachers want to get back into the swings of things with school. I disagree with the entire idea of sending kids back to school, especially full time.

For one, the whole pandemic started in March/late February, spring season. Case numbers were soaring, everything shut down for months. Even being quarantined, and not being able to leave the house did not stop people from getting sick. Scientists don’t even know if it is seasonal like the flu, or something that is around all day, every day of the year. Meaning that the time we go back to school, it is just two months before the spring season comes back around, and people start getting sick again.

Also to go with that, right now is the time for flus and colds, no one is going to know the difference between COVID-19, and the regular season flu. It is going to be a train effect, one kid will get the flu/cold, next thing you know, he/she gets their entire friend group sick. Next thing you know, one of those kids test positive for the virus, and we have no idea who it came from. Then it just travels to more and more people, then we’re back to where we started, the beginning.

If the plan is going back five days a week, I would definitely not recommend it due to the statements I had just provided. What we are doing right now is difficult in some parts, but I would rather be safe than sorry. I know places are opened, but most places have limits, even outside events have limits. You can’t put limits on schools, that’s thousands of kids around each other. There is no perfect time to start school, because we think we know everything about the virus, but there is so much more that we are missing, and don’t understand. 

Thank you

Sincerely, Madison Cabell