Searcy, AR (LP) — As a new week comes along to Searcy High School, a new adjustment was made. The mask rule has been lifted. Masks are now optional meaning you can wear the mask if you choose. But with the new adjustment a lot of students questioned why it even became a rule if there is still a pandemic going around and that is because the cases of COVID-19 have gone down from 94 cases found in a single day in August down to 18 cases found this week. Even though there is still a pandemic numbers have dropped drastically and even though this is a rule now that doesn’t mean it is permanent. If numbers start to go up again not just in the Searcy High School but in Searcy all together too the school will go back to wearing masks.
Michael Shourd, a student here at Searcy High School likes the mask rule being lifted but he still wears his mask on in some classes for the ability to feel comfortable. “ I wear my mask on and off. There are just some classes that I feel more comfortable in when wearing my mask then others where I feel comfortable with it off,” said Shourd. On the other hand Kelli McNeill, a Science teacher here at the Searcy High School goes to say, “I continue to wear my mask because my mother is older, and I want to visit with her as much as possible. She has been vaccinated, but I worry about all of the contacts that I have as a teacher on a daily basis.” With the masks being optional it helps everyone out a little bit more.
But with the mask rule being optional and students and staff are having the option to wear them or not it does have risk. COVID-19 cases have gone up in the past week and many students have been quarantined. Alyssa Salter says, “I have my Covid shot so I would think that Covid taking over the school would be crazy but I mean if you think about it how many students do you know are actually getting vaccinated?” Alyssa Salter is fully correct on that. A lot of students at Searcy High School are so against the Covid Vaccine so why even allow masks to be optional. Schools can’t force something into a students body if they don’t want it. That is why it is optional to wear your mask if you would like to.
The mask rule has its pros and cons to everyone’s side of the story. The cases have gone up since the rule was made but Covid cases seem to still have a steady pace around a low number. The Searcy High School has not figured out if the mask being optional will stay permanently or not but what they do know is that the mask for right now will be optional until they see a bigger amount of numbers in Covid cases go up. When cases go up, the mask will go up.
