Written by Chamberlain Zulauf
It has been well over a year since COVID-19 first appeared in the United States. Since then, our country has gone through different stages and levels of isolation. The situation was handled so poorly initially that the virus was able to affect every aspect of our daily lives even down to political affiliations. An insidious problem is that COVID-19 was a huge blow to the ego of a country that is supposed to offer the supreme quality of life.
2020 was so bad that it was seen as the worst year in the new generation’s lifetimes which paints a bleak picture for our future. Everyone is waiting for the day where they can finally blast “Mask Off” and life is back to normal again but the road to normalcy is long and we’re impatiently asking “are we there yet?”
This past year and a half have made us realize that “Howie Mandel was ahead of the curve,” to quote my roommate Brandon Justice. Thankfully, things are starting to seem at least a little like pre-COVID days. Roanoke itself had a bit of a scare but we were able to bounce back, saving our last few weeks on campus.
Questions naturally arise about what next year will look like. The plan is to have in-person classes, but will masks be required in class still? Of course. But what about the year after that? I wonder who the last person will be to take off their mask for the last time. Keeping up COVID prevention this summer would be key to getting Roanoke and America back on track.
