As governor Gavin Newsom orders masks to be optional at schools due to the decreasing threat of Covid-19, many districts and schools have varying opinions on how they should interpret it. Contra Costa County has chosen to make masks optional. However, this doesn’t mean that everyone unanimously agreed to ditch masks.
“To be honest, I never really noticed a difference,” stated Aryan Kalra, a sophomore at CVCHS. “Before the mandate became optional, half of us weren’t wearing our masks anyway and half of us who did didn’t even wear them properly and the teacher didn’t care enough about it.”
A majority of students, for the most part, wore their masks, but that did not mean they wore them correctly.
“I was fine with the mask mandate; I think it was a good way to keep myself and others safe,” stated sophomore Zalan Linvilleat. “It was an effective way of preventing further spread and casualties, along with the vaccine.”
According to a health study done by the Washington Post on August 8th, 2021, many people choose to keep their masks on to protect others and to prevent further infections from other viral infections.
“I don’t believe we should’ve done that,” said sophomore Elias Salfiti. “I think we should keep it required just to make sure it doesn’t come back; if we continue to drastically throw away all the mandates and parameters, Covid-19 may come back to haunt us.”
Many shared this opinion, and was the top reason for people continuing to wear their masks, according to the Washington Post.
Another motive for people was a sense of duty to their community to help stop the spread of the virus.
“I did not like them,” said freshman Stan Silianok. “But, I felt like it was my duty, and many others' duty to protect the community and stop its spread.”
Teachers and faculty members at CVCHS express different opinions.
“I think it is better that we’re trending back to pre-pandemic standards,” stated Mr. Hansen, an English teacher at CVCHS. “I think this is a reward for us and our efforts to beat back this pandemic. I think we should be able to keep this reward as long as we don’t have an increase.”
Many felt that they have just beaten a virus and we should start to return to pre-pandemic life standards. Most people believe that masks being optional is a big step towards this goal.
“I align myself with what the county says: students should have the right to choose what they want,” Says CVCHS’s executive director, Dave Fehte. “I think it’s always a good thing if students are given more autonomy over their current decisions.”
As a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt goes, “The choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” In the end, masks being optional is most likely not going to leave anytime soon despite this topic still being controversial.
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