With the recent vaccination requirement, students must receive a COVID-19 vaccine to attend the SUNY Oswego. As of Sept. 24, President Deborah Stanely stated 90% of the student body was fully vaccinated and 95% of management confidential employees are fully vaccinated. It was also said that an additional 8% of students were in the process of their vaccine series and that 98% of students are expected to be fully vaccinated. Despite this, all students and staff are still required to wear masks in all indoor spaces “until further notice,” Stanley said.
According to localSYR.com, there are 174 active COVID-19 cases in Oswego County as of September which leads to the question “why get vaccinated?” I initially believed when I received the vaccine that life would go back to early March 2020 before schools closed across the country and world. Now the definition of normal must be adjusted to a life where masks are worn in all of SUNY Oswego’s classes and indoor activities which prevents students from seeing others’ facial expressions creating a communication barrier. In fact, when I was a freshman in fall 2020, we had to social distance and wear masks. This led to trouble understanding others as I was not used to talking with masks. Luckily, I got used to this as the semester went on and adapted by listening more closely.
Personally, COVID-19 fatigue is really kicking in and covering up half my face for a year and a half makes me wonder if we will ever get back to the “normal” society we lived in early March. A maskless society. We may as well already be in a “normal” society as COVID-19 is probably here to stay like the flu, being seasonal according to CNBC. It strikes me to think if masks are here to stay or leave and as we have seen in the past year, anything is possible. Maybe this pattern will occur once again, and a pandemic will happen in another one hundred years. One sure hopes not.
I have to say that this semester has been a good solid semester so far, and things could be a lot worse. All of my classes are in person, and I get to sit next to others in my class and chat. I remember back to the 2020-2021 academic year and how being socially distanced in seats made it more difficult to make friends and talk to others.
Even though wearing a mask all the time for my classes is annoying, I am content that none have switched online or that the campus is doing a two week pause.
With this disappointing news of an indefinite mask requirement, being grateful is one thing that can be done as social distancing is no longer required and the campus is thriving and full of life. A reflection must be made from the current circumstances to those of the 2020 spring semester, when all classes were online, and the ex-governor Andrew Cuomo was encouraging New Yorkers to stay home. One must wish for the mask requirement to end in the near future, but for now do not lose hope.
Image from Flickr
