Costa’s culture of mask wearing needs a refresh

By Katherine Mueller

Executive Opinion Editor

Mask-wearing has been a fundamental custom of everyday life in America for nearly two years, and in the south bay, has resulted in adequate compliance. However, attitudes towards mask wearing at Costa are in need of more stringent management from both students and teachers,
especially as COVID-19 cases continue to surge.

For the past two years, multiple regulations have been set in place to enforce the use of masks, which later began fluctuating due to vaccination status. However, rules on mask wearing at Costa have always been the same. All students know to wear their masks indoors, and while the administration may suggest that students always wear masks outdoors as well, this such
feat will likely never occur due to the general belief that COVID-19 has a harder time spreading in open air. Masking indoors should always be a given, with nobody exempt to the rules.

However, the culture of mask wearing at Costa can be highly polarized going from classroom to classroom, which often depends on the strictness of the teacher when it comes to masking. Some teachers are completely content with allowing students to pull their masks down to eat indoors, while others would never consider the thought. Classes with a more relaxed masking
culture are putting others at risk, and must realize that they shouldn’t slink by the rules, even if nobody’s around to correct them.

When it comes to eating indoors, and even eating in big groups outdoors, students need to work on thinking more logically. It should be common knowledge that eating indoors without a mask means that you are breathing in potentially infected air with no protection, and endangering others with your own potentially infected respiration. Even when eating outdoors in large cohorts, people are increasing their vulnerability to the virus, as they likely stand in the middle of a group of tightly-packed, unmasked students.

In the weeks coming back from winter break, COVID-19 has been barreling through the student body. Though many currently infected students likely contracted the virus sometime over break due to contact with others, it does not deny the fact that there is a greater COVID-19 presence more than ever at the school. Due to the extreme virulency of the variant, even fully vaccinated students are falling ill, with class rosters being hollowed out with absences as the days progress. However, despite the popular belief that it is just a matter of time until everybody has had the virus in their system, this is not necessarily true, as students who always practice good masking habits continue to attend school healthy each day.

It is true that masks do not prevent you from getting COVID-19. Additionally, the concern of having one student in a class not wearing a mask properly is generally low for many. However, by not wearing a mask in class, a student is essentially saying that they would be lenient with
masking rules in other similar situations, and would possibly attend events where there is a high probability of spreading the virus . To put one’s mask fully over their nose for an hour-long class period should be the easiest thing that a student does at school, and should not require any reminders.

As a community, we will likely not be snapping back to the same masking-strictness we had previously during the beginning of the pandemic. Consequently, since the administration can not be everywhere at once to crack down on masking habits, it is truly up to the students and faculty
to be responsible for their health and the health of others.