Should Masks Be Optional?

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Cyrus Mitchell

After quarantining in the beginning of March 2020, most of us were introduced to masks.

Macy Jennings, J1 Reporter

After quarantining in the beginning of March 2020, most of us were introduced to masks. We wear masks to the grocery store, school, and in public settings. Never in my life have I had to wear a mask, but now I use them every day and it feels weird taking them off.

When we do take them off in school, we are told to bring them back up, or wear them above our nose. I am fine with this, but it makes me question; when are they going to make masks optional? And how many of our students aren’t going to wear them any more?

Not wearing masks to school may be concerning to some, but I think that there is a place in time when we should take off our masks. I’m not saying any time soon, because we are still in stage three, but talking to students at this school, most of them are vaccinated or plan on getting vaccinated, and they’re getting tired of wearing masks.

If I was in charge of this, I would say that we should make masks optional after Christmas break.

I think it would be good to wait a little after the holidays, in case a lot of people are traveling or they are having parties with friends and family. But I think this also gives people more time to get vaccinated, and let the cases die down a little bit. 

I can see where the other side is coming from when they say that we are still in a global pandemic, and people are still dying. However, other schools have been smarter about quarenting and wearing their masks, and because of this, they don’t have to take the extra proccutions like we do. 

As human beings we should take care of ourselves, get vaccinated, and stay home when we are sick, this can prevent the risk of COVID-19 and other viruses from spreading.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t wear our masks anymore, I’m just saying that in order to get back to normal, we should try and make them optional after Christmas break. I think that this would make students, staff, and teachers happier and who knows, maybe we can create a better environment, because our features aren’t so hidden.