Is the Covid Pandemic Something of the Past?

Two and a half years after the first set of lock-downs for Covid-19, rarely do you see any masks or Covid restrictions. Should we still be worried about the world wide virus that killed 6.53 million people? Even President Biden stated, “The Pandemic is over” in a 60 minutes interview this weekend. But how do the students of Palisade feel about the Pandemic?

If you walked through the halls during a busy passing period you could maybe spot one or two masks, which two years ago would have been blasphemous, however now not wearing masks has become the “new, new” normal. I spoke to Sophia Dery, a Junior at PHS. She said, “I don’t think we need to worry anymore, but that can also change at any time, which we’ve seen before with new variants.” We’ve seen so many drops and spikes the past few years that more would be something to watch out for. Sophia also said, “I haven’t really noticed it affecting my daily life though.” Most students probably don’t feel any effect of covid anymore in their day to day lives. And with 71% of Mesa County residents having received the Covid vaccination, we seem to have reached a sort of herd immunity in which cases are not growing nearly as fast as they did.

Although most of us at PHS may feel the pandemic is over, Covid is still a very real threat to people all over the world, and some in our community. So while we celebrate the “end” of the global pandemic, let us also be conscious of those who can still be affected by it and those who have lost their lives to the disease.