Conant students and staff should take proper mask-wearing regulations more seriously

Ash Chang

Imagine you’re sitting in class and see multiple students with their masks below their noses. Frustrated, you turn around to face the board only to see your teacher wearing their mask incorrectly as well. Wearing a mask properly may seem simple to most, given the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has been going on for over a year now, but some individuals in the Conant community seem to struggle with correct mask-wearing procedures. Masks are important for the health and safety of everyone in the Conant community, so both students and teachers should wear their masks properly.

The CDC says that COVID-19 spreads via particles containing the coronavirus entering the eyes, nose, and mouth. This is where masks come in. According to a study done by the World Health Organization, masks block 50-70% of the particles that could contain coronavirus. Wearing a mask over your nose and mouth helps prevent these particles from infecting you with the virus. Wearing a mask over your mouth but not your nose does little to help prevent the spread of the virus. 

If students don’t already understand how masks keep us safe, they would benefit from learning about the benefits of wearing a mask. There are students who need to be told multiple times per day to pull their mask up. This is a daily occurrence here at Conant. 

When you’re not wearing your mask correctly, what if a teacher who is telling you to pull your mask up isn’t even wearing their own mask correctly? Students may be heavily influenced by teachers they feel close to. When teachers don’t wear their masks properly they can’t influence other students to wear theirs correctly. When teachers wear their masks correctly and enforce the mask policies and guidelines, this will influence students to wear theirs correctly because students can be influenced by their teacher’s actions. If teachers enforce masks strongly, students may respond by wearing their masks correctly.

When students don’t wear their masks correctly, it increases the likelihood for COVID to breed and multiply among the student population. Masks need to be seen as an important and necessary part of school to keep students and teachers safe for the sake of the Conant High School community. If we stop seeing masks as a burden and start wearing them as we’re supposed to without protest, this can ensure fewer COVID cases and a healthy learning experience for everyone.

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