18
Opinions
March 2O21
SO FAR SO GOOD Trinity’s COVID response has been effective — it’s up to us to keep it that way The 2020-2021 school year has been a tu- occurrence of off-campus behavior.” multuous one, to say the least. However, it In January, Trinity saw its first major uptick has gone better than many expected. At the in case numbers, which ultimately led to the beginning of the school year, it would have entire seventh grade being quarantined. Herbeen difficult to fathom we would stay open ron explained that there were primarily two past Labor Day. Now in March, we are still factors that went into this decision. First, after going strong and have experienced minimal a large number of positive cases in the seventh outbreaks to date. While it has not been per- grade alone, the decision to quarantine the fect, this speaks to the effectiveness of Trinity’s grade was made to combat the spread of the response to COVID-19. virus. Secondly, with a significant amount of Though some may argue it is still safer to the grade quarantined as a result of contract go online completely, tracing anyway, a gradeTrinity is doing its best “We have pretty good evi- wide quarantine made it to provide what it coneasier on the teachers as siders as the best possi- dence that many of the cases well. ble learning experience have been an occurence of “When it gets up to for students. There have the area of around 35 to off-campus behavior.” been a variety of proce40% of the class being dures in place to curb - Dennis Herron, Associate out or quarantined by the spread of the virus, Head of School us, then we’re going to and for the most part, be looking at [quaranthey have been successtining the entire grade],” ful, with only 37 reported positive cases as Herron said. of March 1, according to Associate Head of If an outbreak like this occurs, it’s easy to School Dennis Herron. Yet, even this number point fingers and blame the school for any is slightly inflated as it includes all those who possible mistakes it made. However, this incitested positive, even if they never came onto dent shows that if push comes to shove, the campus or exposed anyone else. school is ready to send large numbers of stuThe school’s implementation of contact trac- dents home to limit the chances of more geting, in particular, airs on the side of caution. ting infected. This seems to have worked, as For example, many athletes have gone online the seventh grade has since returned and case to avoid getting contact traced and missing numbers have subsided. games, not out of fear of actually contracting If anyone is to blame for an outbreak, it the virus. At times the contract tracing has is the student body for our actions outside been so extensive that large portions of various of school. The majority of the positive cases grades have been sent home, but to the best of this school year have resulted from off-campus our knowledge, the policy has been effective in behavior, namely a few super-spreader events, curbing the spread of the virus. where social distancing and appropriate mea“We have little evidence that there has been sures weren’t being taken. a significant transmission on campus,” Herron “I think the school can play a part in presaid. “I can’t say that it has never been trans- venting an outbreak,” sophomore Sophia Lamitted on campus, but we have pretty good mar said. “But at the end of the day, it’s the evidence that many of the cases have been an students who need to commit to wearing
masks, do their best to stay away from other students and stay safe outside of school.” Trinity appears to have recognized that it is impossible to control the actions of students and faculty off-campus, which is why measures have been put into place like remote days after school breaks. Granted, the online days after winter break probably didn’t do much, as two days isn’t enough time for symptoms to develop. Neither did the fact that teachers were required to get tested, but were allowed to return before the results came back. However, any policies that even minimally increase protection against COVID-19 and don’t take away from too much time in-person learning should be embraced. The school has also rolled out optional testing for the student body and faculty in tandem with UCF and alumna and computational biologist Pardis Sabeti. While the effectiveness of in-school testing is yet to be seen, it certainly can’t hurt. Ultimately, Trinity is doing all that it can to provide the most normal year possible to those who seek it. And for those who feel unsafe, or would like to be unsafe outside of school, the option to go online remains. As the school year is reaching its final months, it is everyone’s hope that we can remain open. But whether we are able to or not is up to the student body and our actions off-campus. The lead editorial expresses the opinion of the Trinity Voice editorial staff. Please send commenets to voice@trinityprep.org
