Covid has affected around 30,000 people in Kings County, according to Google News, which is only a small fraction of the 219 million people affected worldwide. Sierra Pacific has certain mandates to allow students in-person learning opportunities while also keeping the students and staff members safe during the pandemic. The only current mandate for Hanford Joint Union Highschool District (HJUHSD) is to wear masks indoors, and there is a Covid vaccine mandate for kids K-12 still being discussed for approval.
The Sierra Pacific school nurse, Louann Cawley, feels that the current covid mandates are okay and that if any changes could be made to improve students and staff safety it would be to have more control over others interactions if there are outbreaks.
She states when there are outbreaks, we can minimize the amount of people at events and gatherings, and the same goes with outbreaks of any other diseases.
Cawley also believes that the mask mandate keepes students and staff safe and helps prevent the spread of Covid and other communicable diseases (like the flu). Jaelynn Behrens, a student at Sierra Pacific, thinks that the covid mandates are good and believes that if everyone follows them the students won’t have to go back to online learning.
¨Students don’t put their masks up and that will end up being a problem in the near future with the covid risings because people and students don’t like masks,¨ She argues.
Cawley thinks that if the Covid vaccine is implemented it will lead to the end of this pandemic, letting us put it in the past. She states that it is just another vaccine added to the ones taken already, and if there was another virus that happened, not anytime soon she hopes, we would just add that vaccine to the ones we all have to take.
Jaelynn Behrens believes that ¨ The mandate for kids to be vaccinated in order to attend in person is pretty reasonable. Even though a vaccine doesn’t make you immune to the virus it still helps you fight it off,¨ she states. ¨ You have a better chance at fighting the virus and winning because your body has already had it and was able to process it and knows how to fight it off.¨
Sierra Pacific student Jaelynn Behrens said a vaccine mandate to go to school in person is reasonable.
“Even though a vaccine doesn’t make you immune to the virus, it still helps,” Behrens said. “You have a better chance at fighting the virus and winning because your body has already had it and was able to process it and knows how to fight it off.”
Behrens also states ¨The face shields some people wear aren’t as effective as a mask. There are those huge gaps that leave your nose and mouth exposed and some people only wear the face shield when wearing a mask is way more effective.¨
She also feels that students without the vaccine would have a harder time fighting off the virus, due to it being the first time their body was exposed to the virus. The school nurse, Louann Cawley doesnt think that we will be going back to long-distance, online learning in the near future, but also states that if there are any outbreaks, it could be a good short term solution.The covid mandates, whether in-person and virtual, are not permanent and could change over time in order to keep everyone safe.
