BY ADDAM CANSDALE, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Over the past two years, we have been forced to wear masks due to COVID-19. Now, we are facing problematic issues being mask-free. Being required to wear masks was considered to be “beneficial” to the population. The government stated that it is to protect ourselves and others from contracting the virus, but I one thing feel is that the government mandating the mask and vaccine mandates just proves how much the government can control the population.
However, the main problem we are facing now as restrictions are starting to be lifted is the diminished immune system we are now left with. Having to wear masks and socially distance ourselves from one another has caused there to be health issues in the future.
Now that mask mandates are lifted, you will find more and more people socializing in smaller settings than before. With that being said, everyone being close together and going back to how things were before the pandemic was impacting our daily lives; germs, viruses and other illnesses will start becoming more prevalent. I was talking to a vet while in the Veteran’s lounge, and he was talking to me about how his child caught the flu the first day coming back to school after the mask mandate was lifted.
Now, I know that it is still flu season, but with everyone protecting themselves by wearing masks and social distancing or taking better care of their surroundings with disinfectant and providing hand sanitizer. I think the biggest concern lies where we should be considering lifting the restrictions as students go back to school and now not needing to wear masks. It is going to bring more illness into the schools, especially since, for the last two years, everyone has been so cautious due to COVID-19.
Honestly, if we do not want to go back to masks and social distancing, we just need to be taking better care of everything around us. I firmly believe that if we had simply taken the time to properly sanitize and keep after ourselves, it would not have been as bad. Hell, the only reason why COVID-19 is such a big issue and there are so many restrictions is because of how publicized it had become. It isn’t any different than SARS back in 2002 or the Swine Flu back in 2009, yet masks were not required to be worn by the entire population and influenced social distance.
Instead of requiring everyone to wear masks and social distance, I believe they should have left it be and allowed everyone to build up natural immunity. I feel that now that we are without masks, we need to be more cautious more than ever because of how much our immunity to viruses as a whole has deteriorated.
