West students Faced With a tough choice, to Mask or to Not mask?

West students have officially been given the choice to wear a mask. What are you choosing? 

“The mask mandate could actually get a lot worse,” Gabriella Onoriobe, West 7th grader, said. So we all know that the mask mandate was officially dropped on February 22, 2022, and a lot of the students are elated it has dropped, but some students are worried about their health. No matter how feel, your feelings are valid. The decision is a hard one to choose and can cause conflict between friends. 

“I don’t think they [the positive COVID cases] will increase because it’s not winter anymore, which is flu season, and spring is more open, and we go outside more in the spring,” Hala Dent, West 7th grader, said.  As I see it, the cases are decreasing at West, our last concerning amount of case identifications was last year in November with a total number of 8 covid cases.  The number of positive cases at West has been decreasing since then. I can’t speak for what the future holds with these cases, but we’ve been going in good directions.

This mandate dropping could very easily cause conflicts in friendships. If you’re a student who is choosing to wear your mask and you have a friend who is choosing to not wear their mask, you may have some small conflict between you both, or let the politics of this get in between your friendship. Maybe it’s just your parents who don’t want you to be friends with someone who doesn’t wear their masks because they want to keep you safe from the virus.

“I like how they gave you a choice to wear or not to wear one, ”Ava Daniels, West 7th grader said.  I agree with Ava when she says this because we have been wearing masks for almost 3 years. The choice allows people to do whatever they feel comfortable with. 

Some students hate wearing masks, it doesn’t bother others, and some students are worried about their health due to the other students not wearing masks. How are you feeling about the current mask situation? Comment below. 

Gallery • 3 Photos

West educator wearing his mask, while his students aren't