The Coronavirus pandemic began its effect in the United States mostly in late February of 2020, and into the beginning of March. What began as a two week school closure people didn’t think too much about, quickly escalated into a national crisis, with schools being shut down for the remainder of the year, businesses being closed, and essentially the life we have known coming to a halt. But slowly but surely, places began to open up again, but it came with restrictions. These included the limiting of numbers of people, and of course, the dreaded mask mandates.

Many people have made it abundantly clear that their least favorite part of the pandemic is having to wear masks whenever in public. Although it is a tedious and annoying task, the process of wearing masks seemed to have worked, as businesses and other locations have opened up almost completely. As cases and deaths as a result of the pandemic declined, combined with the emergence of multiple effective vaccines, mask mandates began to loosen and eventually, in many cases, have been eliminated entirely. It seemed as if we were finally in the clear over a year later. 

That was, until the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants of the Coronavirus. These variants are highly contagious and caused a bit of a panic among people worldwide. It has caused cases to rise due to its being more contagious, masks not being worn, and people not being vaccinated. As a result, at the beginning of the school year, Jefferson County Public Schools had a district wide mask mandate go into effect which is still going on. It shows no signs of stopping soon as Jefferson County’s Department of Health has issued a county wide mask mandate for all indoor venues. 

This mandate applies to anyone ages three and over, regardless of vaccination status. It is certainly a tedious and annoying law that has gone into effect, but it is for the common good of our community, and is necessary for our health and safety. According to the Jefferson County Department of Health, “Mask-wearing and vaccination are the two most important tools residents can use to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and bring us closer to the end of the pandemic.” Although we may not like it, wearing masks and getting vaccinated is the only way this pandemic can come to an end, and it takes everyone’s help to do so.

https://www.jeffco.us/public-health