Masking should continue on campus

Since the dropping of the New York State indoor mask mandate on Feb. 10, 2022, controversy has erupted as some colleges continue to require masks. Even though the state mask mandate has been lifted, I believe that colleges should continue requiring masks as it is beneficial to their students and the surrounding community.

The dropping of the indoor mask mandate allows individuals who are vaccinated to go without a mask. Colleges such as Geneseo are continuing to require masks for all students, faculty and staff on the grounds, as the pandemic is still a very real thing and COVID-19 continues to spread. 

An argument against the continuation of mask wearing on campus would be that we are all required to get vaccinated in order to be on campus. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccine breakthrough infections can happen, causing a fully vaccinated person to be infected with COVID-19. The CDC also states that “People with vaccine breakthrough infections may spread COVID-19 to others.” With the continued spread of COVID-19, it is only practical to continue wearing masks as well.

Well, then why bother getting vaccinated? The simple answer is, so that you won’t die. Again, looking to the CDC, “COVID-19 vaccines protect everyone ages 5 years and older from getting infected and severely ill, and significantly reduce the likelihood of hospitalization and death.” I digress.

COVID-19 has proven to be a deadly virus and we should be doing everything we can to stop the spread. Stopping the spread of COVID-19 is like building a house, and masks are a tool. You can’t build a house without a hammer, and you can’t stop COVID-19 without a mask.

College campuses are filled with a community of people who are in close contact with each other for many hours a day. Students are trapped in enclosed spaces, whether it be for class or work. It is very difficult to social distance properly in a classroom as most classes are filled to capacity, removing any distance buffer between students. As a result, most college towns are considered to be a high transmission area.

College students, faculty and staff don’t just stay on campus. The campus is considered to be a bubble, so to speak—when you leave the bubble, you bring back new germs. This is the reason wearing a mask is so important.

Here is an example: if I were to go home to the Buffalo area, I would be exposed to people in that area; let’s call them group A. If you were to go home to another town, you would be exposed to what we will call group B. When both of us come back to campus—if we were to not wear a mask—we are now exposing others to groups A and B. If everyone goes home or goes somewhere to visit, then comes back to campus, then students, faculty and staff would be exposed to just about the entire state of New York. In order to protect yourself and others from the entirety of New York, you wear the mask. 

The only way we can return to normalcy is to continue wearing a mask. The mask is a lifesaving tool that is helping us stop the reign of COVID-19. Mask up, folks—it’s not over yet.