ELEVATE FALL
PUSHING FOR PREVENTION by Jacob Gold ‘23
TCHD AND RJ WORK TOGETHER TO STOP COVID-19
A
After the Tri-County Health Department’s recent reintroduction of mask mandates in schools throughout the area, many students at Regis Jesuit are left wondering what the future holds in terms of COVID-19 restrictions. When might mask mandates be lifted? Should I get vaccinated, and will they be required for students in the future? What was the point of vaccinations if masks are mandated anyway? “The feedback has been mixed,” said Melissa Sager, the policy and intergovernmental affairs manager at Tri-County Health Department. “Ideally, we would not have to have a mandate. In public health, we don’t take that measure lightly.” Sager works closely with community leaders to address public health issues, which means she receives regular
16 ELEVATE MASKS & VACCINES
feedback on things like mask mandates and vaccination pushes. According to Sager, one of the chief complaints that parents and students alike have had throughout this pandemic relate to mental health. “There’s no evidence that shows that masks negatively impact mental health, but we do know that interruptions to learning and routine negatively impact mental health,” she said. Regardless of the mental health impacts created by these interruptions, many still wonder when mask mandates might be lifted. According to Sager, there isn’t an exact number that determines health policy. “We’re looking at several data points but also
recommendations from experts like the CDC or the American Academy of Pediatrics,” she said. “We’re also talking to our schools’ leaders and asking what they’re seeing in their own classrooms.” Right now, the CDC recommends universal maskwearing in any region with high transmission rates. Some people are frustrated with the mandate after such a strong push for vaccination. “It’s a bit of a sticky situation. We all got vaccinated so that we wouldn’t have to wear masks, and then they required it anyway,” Regis Jesuit junior Lucas Smith ‘23 said. Rates of vaccination are a data point that Tri-County monitors and tries to increase when deciding on regulations for the area, but they currently aren’t high enough for mask requirements to be
“VACCINES ARE THE NUMBER ONE WAY OUT OF THIS, AND THEY’RE MORE NECESSARY IN HIGH-RISK SETTINGS.”
lifted. Some might suggest that the natural next step to protecting students is to create a vaccination mandate, but Sager says that requiring the vaccine isn’t within Tri-County’s jurisdiction. Instead, vaccine requirements in schools are set by the state health department. Even though they can’t impose requirements on vaccinations, both Tri-County Health and Regis Jesuit are taking important steps to encourage people to get vaccinated on their own accord using a variety of means. “One of the biggest things is making the vaccine as easily accessible as possible. We make it very easy to get the vaccine by placing clinics at events or offering incentives to get it,” said Sager. The other approach is educating the public. “There’s lots of communication.
