Let’s face it: The world has not been the same since the coronavirus broke out in December of 2019. Supermarket shelves are empty, people are stockpiling for the apocalypse and panic is spreading more widely than the virus. Clark County School District, in an effort to protect students from the growing number of cases in Nevada, canceled all out-of-state trips, after-school activities (save for programs such as Safekey) and athletics. But when schools pack students in classrooms like germ-covered sardines, what good will cancellations really do us in the long run?
The Grizzly Growler strongly suggests CCSD close down schools and move to online instruction, before the next case takes a seat in our classrooms.
Regular classes, which sometimes have as many as 45 students, are often much more crowded than after-school clubs. The school’s most popular activity, gaming club, is held in the library, where there’s plenty of space to accommodate the crowds. Classrooms, however, often sit students in sizable groups, back-to-back or shoulder-to-shoulder, making transmission easier. Canceling clubs seems awfully futile when the same students who would attend them are still stuck in close contact with each other in classes.
It’s especially futile when you consider the ease with which the virus can spread, and it will spread. Quickly. From what current studies have deduced, the virus spreads from close contact, with one infected person easily spreading it to others. This has caused the case numbers to double every six days, according to The Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal. Adolescents appear to have the least amount of risk involved, but they can act as carriers, who will then spread the virus to their parents and siblings, who will spread it to coworkers and other classmates. Those coworkers and other classmates could continue to spread the virus until it reaches every working-class adult, shutting down the global economy and forcing the world into a standstill.
If schools were to shut down, however, our beloved virus-carrying peers could be properly “quarantined” from the adults they put at risk while still completing their classwork at home. While the virus is terrifyingly contagious, it can also pose as a severe danger to adults and those with chronic health conditions, which constitutes a majority of the American population. So, while students may be able to pull through, the continuation of schools is putting the entire country at risk. And for what?
Moving instruction online might even save money, as the district wouldn’t need to pay for buses and electricity; the amount of staff on campus would also deplete drastically. While this isn’t necessarily a good thing for people who rely on school lunches or paychecks, it’s for the greater good of the community. Even Vegas’ private schools, such as Alexander Dawson and The Meadows, have closed or moved online due to concerns. Los Angeles Unified School District, which is the second largest in the nation, announced today that they will move online as well. CCSD is the fifth largest school district.
Additionally, the Strip, Las Vegas’ core, is taking action against the virus by closing major tourist spots. Restaurants that draw crowds are being closed indefinitely, and people are being temporarily laid off from their jobs. No one is guaranteed job security, but they can be promised a chance at better health security. By separating the public as much as possible, it’ll be easier to take care of the current cases of coronavirus and prevent new ones from popping up and overwhelming the healthcare system.
We’re pleading because we care about our lives, your lives and the lives of everyone at risk. At this point, keeping schools open is reckless endangerment for the world. Please, just close the schools and go online.
