New COVID guidelines raise concern
With COVID variants multiplying every few seconds, so are the new guidelines that humans need to follow.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Center of Disease Control and Prevention has been on top of what humans need to do in order to keep the general public safe.
Two years ago, the world went on lockdown, forcing everyone to stay inside their homes to binge Netflix all day and to only venture out when retrieving essential supplies or medical services. The world held their breath, anticipating how they could catch the virus and if they would have enough toilet paper to last them for a few months, minimizing their human contact.
The more information we learned, the more we started to venture out while wearing face masks and toting hand sanitizer.
After the first semester of maintaining control on the COVID numbers surrounding campus through the use of masks in all indoor facilities, holding vaccine clinics and distanced classes, the start of the new semester came with updated campus guidelines.
According to a Instagram spread on msuhealthymaverick, if students have symptoms and test positive, they only have to stay away from others and monitor their symptoms for five days before returning to activities.
When their quarantine period is up, students are encouraged to avoid travel, stay away from high-risk people and to avoid going places, like restaurants, where they will have to take off their mask as they should wear them as often as possible, even at their own homes.
Quarantining in college is difficult, no matter how healthy you feel. Whether in a dorm room or an apartment, it can be hard to isolate from others, especially if one has a roommate. For those who live in dorms and are sent to the isolation rooms, it can become overwhelming and lonely to those who are not able to leave for the duration of their quarantine. However, it is necessary to do so in order to prevent spreading the virus to others.
Not being able to attend class, whether online or in-person, is a common concern for students. If students contract the virus, they have to immediately send out emails to their professors regarding their status and when they will be able to return.
We as students should not have to worry every time we enter a classroom, a store or a facility that we might contract the COVID virus. For those who are asymptomatic, they could be carrying it and no one would know until they started feeling under the weather. By then, they have to run out and find the nearest clinic not only before they feel worse, but before they spread it to others.
With the risks running higher, the protocols and guidelines should not be lessened; if anything, they should be greatly enforced.
Header Photo: Pitt student Michael Burke, 21, gets a COVID-19 booster shot from nursing student Colette Sayegh, on Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, at the Peterson Events Center in Oakland, Pa. (Associated Press)