The COVID-19 pandemic continues to greatly impact our daily lives. As we hope to return to our pre-pandemic lives, the number of cases and deaths in the Bay Area continue to escalate. In September, Santa Clara County was a red tier county; however, last month, Santa Clara County became a purple tier county. According to ABC News, this means that Santa Clara has “more than 7 daily new cases per 100,000 residents or higher than 8% positivity rate.” As the coronavirus continues to worsen in the Bay Area, MHS should not go back to in-person learning second semester for two important reasons.
If we go back to school in January, the spread of the virus will increase. This happens in two ways: more contact with people and the lack of a vaccine. The first way is through the number of people who would be on MHS’s campus. Many schools that have reopened have fewer students compared to MHS. According to Lyanne Melendez, a writer for ABC 7 News, Sunnyvale Christian School, a school that has reopened, only has 111 students, which is 3% of the MHS student population. The drastic difference between student populations shows that small schools like Sunnyvale Christian School would have an easier time reopening successfully.
Furthermore, if MHS reopens second semester, it would have to follow safety guidelines such as screening tests, a mask mandate, and social distancing. However, according to Katie Kerwin McCrimmon from UC Health, “studies show that at least 40-to-50% of people who test positive for COVID-19 have no symptoms.” This means that taking precautions such as screening students’ temperatures are not enough since people infected with the virus are often asymptomatic. Thus, a person could have COVID-19 without even realizing it and could spread it to other people. Even common safeguards like wearing a mask are not 100% effective, especially if teenagers do not use them correctly. Furthermore, if students were to go to school, they would have more interaction with people, which would increase the spread of the virus. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “the more closely you interact with others, and the longer that interaction, the higher the risk of COVID-19 spread.” With the MHS student population being around 3,200 students and staff, the likelihood of a person interacting with someone for a long period of time is high. The spread of the virus caused by interaction with people can already be seen in Vista Unified School District, a district in San Diego County. According to Jarrod Vallier, a writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, six students tested positive at five schools in the first week of reopening at Vista Unified School District, which was the week of October 19.
The virus will also spread due to the lack of a vaccine. A vaccine is the only way that there can be a near 0% transmission rate of COVID-19. According to Lena H. Sun, writer for the Washington Post, the first batch of vaccines might be available by mid-December. However, this first batch will only go out to 6.4 million people, not the entire U.S population. According to Dr. Evan Anderson, a professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, a vaccine for students will not be available until the start of the 2021-22 school year, so the spread of the virus among students will not be reduced during the second semester this year. Therefore, MHS should not reopen since the transmission rate of the virus will remain the same, meaning that the number of people infected will continue to increase.
The second reason that MHS should not have students return for the second semester is because MHS does not have the resources. It is costly to rearrange classrooms to be socially distant and to test or even just screen the temperatures of students. According to Lauren Camera of the U.S. News, a school would need approximately an extra $1.2 million in order to reopen during the pandemic. This money can come either through extra funds the district has or through extra funding from Congress. According to Valerie Strauss, a writer for the Washington Post, Congress has not approved any stimulus funds to help schools get back to in-person learning. Therefore, MHS would have to rely on the MUSD budget. Unfortunately, the district cannot afford an extra $1.2 million needed to open MHS. According to the MUSD budget for the school year of 2020-2021, the district will earn about $89 million, and spend about $94 million. We do not have extra funds to allocate for reopening schools since we are already spending more than we are earning. Furthermore, schools that have successfully reopened in the Bay Area are private schools. According to Lyanne Melendez, a writer for ABC 7 News, the first school to have successfully reopened was Sunnyvale Christian School. Sunnyvale Christian School is a private school and likely has more resources to reopen compared to larger public schools like MHS.
A common argument for opening schools is that students learn better in person than online. However, the constant worry of catching a deadly virus does not make for a conducive learning environment. Staying safe at home will allow students to focus on their studies and not have to stress about their health. Besides, learning from home offers many students the flexibility they need to succeed. Additionally, opening schools does not mean everyone can return. Many students, older and at-risk staff that are especially vulnerable to COVID-19, or those that have family members that are vulnerable will have to stay home out of necessity. This creates an uneven playing field and places some students at a disadvantage through no fault of their own.
In conclusion, MHS should not re-open during the second semester in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Furthermore, MHS could never successfully reopen because of its size and lack of resources. If MHS does reopen, it will only be putting itself further in debt and risking the lives of staff and students.