Let’s talk about the topic that has been looming over all of us since the beginning of school: COVID-19.
We all know that Pinkerton Academy went fully remote for the remainder of October, and with that, all their fall sports and activities were cancelled for the rest of the season.
Londonderry High students should take this as a strong warning: cancellation of school and sports is very possible and could happen at any time.
Under no circumstance should any student come to school knowing that they could be exposing others to COVID-19. That is completely unacceptable and disrespectful to your classmates and to all the administrators working hard to keep us in school.
It is selfish for knowingly sick students to come to school. Obviously, we have to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions.
On the flip side, no one should shame the students who have contracted COVID-19.
It is absolutely imperative that we create a safe, accepting environment where kids are comfortable admitting they have COVID-19 or have been exposed to it in order to keep us all healthy.
Shaming students for being exposed to COVID-19 increases the risk of kids not reporting their symptoms due to the stigma surrounding the virus.
Everyone should be doing their best to prioritize health in our school building. There are certain sacrifices that we all have to make for the better of our school. Keep following the protocols, be open about your symptoms, and let the school have confidence in our student body that we are doing our best to be safe.
So far, the school has done an amazing job with tracing. They limited the number of cases to six, and now it is down to 1, and we have only had one cluster. The administration got right on contact tracing thereby preventing more cases and spreading.
Remember this: anyone has the chance to get COVID.
It does not discriminate. As a school, we should encourage students to be straightforward about their symptoms in order to keep the rest of our student body and teachers safe. That is the best way to keep us from going full remote.
Let us all do better in making a safer and healthier environment that does not promote shaming other students.
Anne Bartlett
Nov 6, 2020 at 4:57 pm
I love this article. It states all the right things. Most importantly respecting and caring about one another and making good decisions. Hope LHS continues to do so well with keeping the virus at bay.
Good luck everyone!