The U.S.Department of Health and Human Services officially lifted the Covid-19 pandemic emergency on May 11, 2023. Even though the Covid-19 pandemic was a big deal all over the world, we are going into a more endemic lifestyle. We no longer see the “stay 6ft apart” stickers in the stores, people are no longer paranoid about keeping their hands clean, hand sanitizer isn’t seen as often as when the pandemic was at its peak, and most importantly, masks aren’t required anymore.
Vaccines still remain free and so does medication, but the medication is very limited and won’t stay free for long. National reporting of Covid-19 cases has also changed. For example, hospitals are now reporting their cases weekly instead of daily. Lastly, Covid-19 tests aren’t free everywhere, so some people have to pay out of pocket to get tests.
When Covid was a global emergency, schools gave out tests for free and tested students when needed. It was necessary to have masks, sanitizer, and wipes easily accessible everywhere, but now that things have calmed down and we don’t see these resources as often as we did.
The California Department of Public Health now recommends having supplies like soap and water, trash cans, hand sanitizer, but doesn’t require them. While this makes sense now that the pandemic is no longer an emergency, schools should still try to keep up with having these supplies and not let their guard down. Blanca Esparza (my sister), a morbidity clerk at the Monterey County Health Department, emphasized how important it is to continue to provide these resources for students in school. “Covid is like any other respiratory disease such as the flu,” Esparza said. “We have resources for the flu like masks and hand sanitizer so these same resources should be available for Covid to continue to minimize the spread of the disease.”
I agree with her because students may sit in desks where sick people sit and they don’t know how to wash their hands, so they carry these germs with them, spreading them all around campus. Therefore, soap should be stocked in the bathroom and hand sanitizer should be available in classrooms for those who don’t want to get sick. But sometimes these resources aren’t available so we have trouble minimizing the spread of illnesses in school. This should be taken into consideration more, now that the flu season is approaching and make sure there is supplies to minimize the spread of communicable diseases like Covid-19 after the scare of the pandemic.
Back then when you caught Covid, you had to stay home and isolate yourself for 2 weeks to prevent the spread of Covid. Now, if a person catches Covid, they have to be isolated and stay home for 5 days as well as wear a mask until day 10. Not much has changed since the emergency has been lifted, it’s the same precautions, just less enforced.
Although, I think it’s justified that they reduced the amount of time you have to isolate yourself, people aren’t taking things seriously when it’s still a sickness that can be spread to others. If people catch Covid, they should be staying home and not putting others at risk because they think it’s okay. Even with advances against Covid, I don’t think we should let our guard down just yet. Covid hasn’t magically disappeared, it has just become another thing we have to live with like many other diseases such as tuberculosis, the flu, and salmonella, to name a few. Covid is just another disease on top of other diseases that we have to learn to get adjusted to and understand that it will be around whether we like it or not.
It should be treated as if it were a variant of the flu, and we know that Covid itself has variants, so we don’t know what is in store for us with this disease. Covid is something serious, but it has become manageable with the precautions we have learned to take to minimize the spread. We might not be able to go back to normal due to fear and paranoia that was installed in people’s lives. It has caused major impacts on people’s lives such as death of loved ones and long term health problems because of Covid. We can try to slowly ease back into what life used to be, but with some precautions since we never know what’s in store for us.
Yes, we have made many major advances against Covid, but the disease is still capable of killing people, so people should be conscious of this and still follow the new Covid protocol. “There should still be major precautions as far as keeping Covid cases down,” Esparza said. “I think there should still be protocols in place like testing, staying home if you’re sick, and having wipes and hand sanitizer available.” I couldn’t agree more with her, after all she’s seen it all, since the beginning of the pandemic until now.
For more information visit the following websites:
https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/K-12-Guidance-2023-24-School-Year.aspx
