Starting on May 18, high school students who are participating in outdoor sports do not have to wear a mask, but in what ways are Burlington student-athletes staying mask-free and safe?

“The biggest change was the masks. Early on we accepted it as a reasonable step. But as state after state after the state allowed maskless competition outside it began to become annoying.” Matt Carr, BHS track coach, said over email.

According to NBC Boston “Athletes on spring teams in active play outdoors are not required to wear a mask/facial covering.” However, by the time Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker lifted the mask mandate for outdoor sports. Since the beginning of May, Massachusetts schools are in the Spring 2 season of sports which includes Baseball, Softball, Track, and Tennis.

“We were making it up as we went along, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you” Shaun Hart, BHS athletic director, said during an interview. “It was super important for everyone to follow the protocols that were in place because we are talking about health, students being in school, and we are talking about people's lives.”

Mr. Hart explains that all of the protocols that were made for high school athletics programs had been run through the EEA for youth sports, and then the MIAA (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association). This meant that there weren’t just going to be three seasons of sports, but four shorter seasons.

“Fall went from the third week of September to about Thanksgiving, then Winter went from Thanksgiving to February vacation,” Mr. Hart explained. “Then Fall 2 went from February vacation to almost April vacation, and Spring has been going since April vacation, and will go until summer vacation.”

Mr. Hart noted that there were some difficulties with the unknown of this year.

“Once kids and coaches understood the new rules it was better than what we thought it would be.”

Matthew Jackling, the head of the BHS health and wellness department, said. “One thing we told our fall teams is that you need to do well with these mandates because if we mess this up no one else will be able to do it.”

Mr. Jackling explains that it was much more challenging to understand the new mandates earlier in the year because there was so much uncertainty, but as the year progressed the new rules stopped feeling like rules and started to feel more like the “new normal”.

According to WCVB “All remaining COVID-19 restrictions and capacity limits will be lifted effective May 29, and fully vaccinated people will no longer be required to wear masks in most settings. The State of Emergency in Massachusetts will also end on June 15.”

Now what does this mean for BHS students? Hopefully by the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year student athletes should be able to play sports maskless, and return to school full time without masks, but there is still uncertainty about what the future holds for BHS student athletes.

There has been a situation with Burlington’s water for years now. There have been seasonal water bans preventing people from water lawns. Most people think that this is because they don’t have enough water. While this may be true there is another part to the situation.

A couple weeks ago a story broke on the news saying how they have found a chemical in drinking water all over the country. In Burlington, we are no exception.

“The issue is more quality than quantity, the PFAs chemicals have been manufactured over the years and it doesn’t degrade it’s stays in the water,” John Sanchez, director of the Burlington DPW, said.

He expressed that the biggest challenge of this whole thing is that it is new but they are already putting together solutions in the meantime.

“Burlington has two water sources: ground level and surface level. So what we have to do is shut down wells while we work on a way to get a connection from Burlington to the MWRA [Massachusetts Water Resource Authority] water source,” Sanchez said.

How will that happen? The DPW has arranged for a contractor to start a connection from our water to the MWRA water. He told me that we should have a good water source by 2023.

Mrs Graham, an environmental science at Burlington High school, is an expert on the science behind all of this. So it was great to hear her thoughts on the situation.

“It is happening all across the U.S.,” she said. “This isn’t the first time we have found a chemical in our water so I feel we need to do a better job as humans in thinking about consequences for different things.”

So what are PFAs? PFAs can be found in just about everything, Food, water, household products, workplaces, and the list goes on and on. According to the EPA ( United States Environmental Protection Agency) the health effects of PFAs can cause liver and kidney problems.

For more on this, I spoke to Wendy Czerwinski, a chemistry teacher at Burlington High school. “It’s a byproduct of Teflon,” she said. Teflon is basically a stain remover.

“I would recommend charcoal filters or just drink from the bottle until the problem is fixed,” Mrs. Czerwinski said.

So next time you go to drink from Burlington or any town's water for that matter make sure you know the chemical in it and the effects of it.

Mask mandates are being lifted across the state of Massachusetts, as well as throughout the whole country. First, a statewide decision allowing high school athletes to shed their masks when practicing and playing outdoors. Then, a CDC decision that was adopted by the state which eases mask regulations for vaccinated individuals. But, how does this affect Burlington, and how do students feel about it?

In order to find out how students are feeling on a slightly larger scale, a survey was sent around and about 30 student responses were recorded.

On May 18, prior to the widespread lifting of mask mandates during Memorial Day weekend, The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, or MIAA, removed many of the mask requirements for student athletes, spectators, and coaches for outdoor sports.

Within Burlington High School, this decision has proven to be relatively well accepted. When asked how they felt about the state’s decision to lift mask mandates for outdoor high school sports, about 66% of respondents felt that it was the right choice.

Meanwhile, about 21% of respondents felt otherwise, choosing to say that they disagreed with the MIAA’s choice. An additional two respondents, only about 7%, felt that the decision to ditch masks for outdoor sports should be welcome, but only for those who are vaccinated.

“Masks just get tiring sometimes,” Burlington High School sophomore Isaiah Burley said. “Like, say you’re in class and it’s really hot and you gotta breathe.”

“I just came back from gym right now, and I’m a little tired, [but] I have to have my mask on,” Burley added. “So when you’re outside, it's nice to be able to take your mask off so you can get fresh air.”

Then, on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend, the CDC made the decision to lift mask mandates throughout the country for vaccinated individuals, even in many indoor places. Massachusetts decided to follow the CDC’s recommendations, resulting in the removal of many mask mandates within the state.

The state has, however, kept the requirements for masks in certain vulnerable areas to promote safety. For example, on public and private transportation, masks are still required.

Healthcare facilities, correctional facilities, and emergency shelter programs like homeless shelters are also not included in the state’s mask mandate lift.

In addition to the previously mentioned locations still requiring masks, K-12 public schools will also be continuing the requirement of mask-wearing for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

In Massachusetts alone 62% of the population has been given the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and 47% are fully vaccinated, as of May 24. According to the Boston Globe about 28% of 16-17 year olds have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, but what does this mean for the future of teenagers getting the vaccine?

“About 60-70% of the 16 or older age group by the end of the year should be vaccinated,” Mrs. Shields, BHS nurse, said. “I think once a larger number of students are vaccinated the policies for masking and social distancing will change and eventually be lifted,” Mrs. Shields said over email.”

Massachusetts is on track to vaccinate a large number of 16-17 year olds before next school year. Massachusetts is also looking at starting to vaccinate children ages 12-15.

“I think once a larger number of students are vaccinated the policies for masking and social distancing will change and eventually be lifted,” Nurse Shields said over email.

Starting Saturday May 29, Massachetts Governor Charlie Baker is opening health clubs, indoor water parks, festivals, and parades back to 100% capacity because of the vaccination rate in Massachusetts. This is partly due to the fact that COVID-19 related deaths in the US are down by 80%, and that COVID-19 cases have dropped by 45%.

On May 18, the CDC and President Joe Biden lifted the mask mandate for people who are fully vaccinated indoors, and outdoors regardless of the size of the gathering. The CDC is still advising mask wearing if you are at a concert, on a train, bus, in a hospital, or at an airport.

Regarding vaccination rates, Massachusetts is one of the best if not the best compared to other states. With just around 3.5 million people fully vaccinated as of May 27, Massachusetts is doing very well. That is a country leading 51% of the population according to the CDC COVID data tracker.

“It’s definitely pretty good. Higher than some areas, we are a unique state though we have a lot of different people working in the medical area. So I think it’s definitely a good thing,” Mr. Tota, BHS Biology teacher and EMT, said.

“Now there’s the problem with people who are hesitant to get it, I think why we have done so well is because people wanted to get it but now we are gonna run into that problem other states are having trying to get people who are hesitant to get it,” Mr Tota said.

These were his thoughts about the Covid 19 vaccination rate of Massachusetts. He thinks while Massachusetts is doing well they still have more to improve.

“We should use more local resources, for example firefighters have wanted to get vaccinated at home but the town has said no or they don’t have enough, so I would love to see more of that,”.

One thing is for sure Massachusetts is certainly a better place than most states. As proven by the weakening of mask wearing mandates, businesses opening more and more, and capacities at different events, restrictions on COVID 19 will end May 29.

While Texas is familiar with extreme weather, the winter storm that struck the Lone Star state this past February was completely out of the ordinary. Millions of Texans lost power and resorted to extreme solutions in order to remain with some security, including storing snow for water and burning furniture for heat. As a result of the storm, at least one hundred people have died, and the trouble continued after the weather returned to normalcy. Some Texans have been charged with exorbitant electric bills, due to the rates being determined by high demand. All of which begs the question: what caused this storm to wreak such havoc in Texas? The answer for that lies in the continuing climate crisis and an independent electrical grid.

Although climate change is more closely associated with abnormally warm weather, scientists have evidence suggesting that frigid Arctic air moving further south contributed to the record cold temperatures. Leading up to the storm, the Arctic jumped up from -110°F to -10°F, making a polar vortex of cold air elongate towards the U.S.-Mexico border, which is 4,000 miles away from the North Pole. As long as the planet continues to warm, other masses of polar air will continue further south at a more frequent occurrence. In 2020, the United States experienced 22 weather and climate events, costing billions of dollars. The record number of events also threatens areas with infrastructure similar to Texas, where buildings and homes are designed to let heat escape and prevent overheating. However, these developments were predicted by scientists in 2011, who warned that worsening storms could overpower Texas’s electrical grid, further risking those in the state.

After the storm, a report revealed Texas’s electrical grid was minutes away from completely failing. While the freezing of gas that powers the grid was a factor in the approaching shut down, the independent power grid had a more significant role. Unlike the rest of the continental United States, Texas has an independent power grid, which means that it does not need to submit to federal regulations. Almost a decade ago, an inspection said that the generators connected to the grid would have to be replaced after a series of blackouts caused by a cold snap. Since proper readjustments were not made, the existing generators were unequipped to withstand such a severe storm, which was compounded by the fact that the electrical grid could not connect to another because it is independent. The inadequacy of Texas’s power grid resulted in the price to soar to $9 per kilowatt hour, a significant increase from the average rate of 12 cents, resulting in thousands of dollars in electrical bills for countless families.

Even though skeptics continue to argue that alternative power sources caused the power failure, evidence does not lie. Winter storm Uri serves as a painful reminder that climate change and greed threaten our security. Millions of Texans suffered during the February storm and must now pay thousands to repair the damage. Numerous lost their homes and loved ones and were abandoned by their state leaders. Despite relief funds raising millions of dollars in support, economic research has shown billions of dollars will be needed to further resolve the state’s turmoil.

Governor Charlie Baker announced on Thursday, February 25 that he is moving forward to Step 2 of Phase III of the plan. This will mean that there will be massive reopening throughout the entirety of Massachusetts, moving life to some sort of normality.

This will allow concert halls, theaters, and other indoor performance spaces to be reopened at 50% capacity with no more than 500 people in the venue. Indoor recreational activity will be allowed to open at 50% capacity.

Also the capacity limits across all sectors of Massachusetts with capacity limits will be raised to 50% and exclude employees. Restaurants will no longer have a percent-capacity limit, though limits of six people per table and 90-minute limits remain in place. Restaurants will also be able to host musical performances if they maintain six-foot social distance.

This has many feeling excited but Mrs. Pascale, the school nurse, has some concerns.

“I feel that people have been diligent, for the most part about wearing masks, socially distancing and hand washing. We have to be careful not to let our guard down and keep up with these measures,” she said.

Not forgetting to stay clean and continue to social distance is extremely important because even though they are opening up more shops and giving people more freedom. People should continue to take all the proper precautions; otherwise, the virus will just continue to spread.

Despite ongoing precautions, the new policy has got many students feeling hopeful.

“I think him opening up venues and stores to 50% capacity is a sign we are getting better,” Harun Ahmed, BHS student, said.