Travel Restrictions

COVID-19 TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS: U.S. AND ABROAD

Article by Alec Diaz Infographic by Sarah Lin Multiple countries have now lifted their COVID-19 travel restrictions. Countries such as Sweden and the United Kingdom, have lifted their travel restrictions, regardless of vaccination status. Both countries lifted their travel restrictions due to the high number of people who are vaccinated, which helps lower the risk of contracting COVID-19. However, the U.S. is not lifting all of its travel restrictions for a variety of reasons. Part of the reason is because of the Ba.2 COVID-19 variant, which according to an article by MedicalNewsToday, is more contagious and is better at evading immunity compared to BA.1. Ba.2 is a sub-variant of Omicron, and is an Omicron “stealth” variant of COVID-19. Originally, the mask mandate for air travel was going to be lifted back in January, but has now more recently been pushed back to April 18. However, the date has now been pushed back again to May 3, due to the severity of the Ba.2 sub-variant. According to the CDC, as of April 16, the Ba.2 sub-variant makes up more than 90% of COVID-19 variants in the U.S. Although the mask mandate for air travel got pushed back to May 3, on April 18, the mandate was dropped due to U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle shutting down the CDC’s mandate. Mizelle shut down the CDC’s mandate because according to an article by NBC Chicago, words it as, “the CDC failed to justify its decision and did not follow proper rule making procedures that left it fatally flawed.” According to an article by Forrest Brown and Megan Marples of CNN, most states in the United States have dropped their travel restrictions from state to state. States such as Florida, Louisiana, Idaho, and Georgia have dropped their statewide travel restrictions. However, states like Maine require travelers to fill out a travel protocol form and must quarantine for ten days upon their arrival. According to an article by Trip.com, when traveling to Canada from the United States, people who are not vaccinated must be quarantined for 14 days before traveling to Canada, people who are not vaccinated must also show proof of a negative COVID-19 test no more than 72 hours before departure, and Canada strongly recommends wearing masks as well. Senior Shradda Bhatia, who traveled to India for three weeks in December of 2021, was

required to show her and her family’s vaccination status at the airport. “So when traveling back [to the United States], we had to get [PCR] tests 24 hours before and then we also have to get one done at the airport for rapid antigen testing, and then you can only board if you got the results,” Bhatia said. “Negative rapid antigen test as well.” Like many other countries, India’s tourism has been affected. When Bhatia traveled to India, she said that there was less traffic and that people that she talked to over in India said that it felt a lot emptier. Fortunately, BhaUSA USA tia said that people were also trying to get back to some sort of normalcy, and people were

CA CA transitioning back to their normal lives, and the rules in India are pretty loose when it comes to wearing your mask as well. Although COVID-19 casIN IN SE SE UK UK es have decreased, according to an article by Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, you should still bring 72 hrs REQUIREMENTS REQUIREMENTS a mask with you if you decide to travel during the summer, as that is one way to continue to help not only protect you, but help protect others as well. Since COVID-19 cases are decreasing and becoming less severe, Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House chief medical advisor, “doesn’t expect the U.S. to see a significant increase in hospitalizations and deaths,” according to an article by Spencer Kimball of CNBC.

OR

If unvaccinated

RECOMMENDED

72 hrs 14 days

RESTRICTIONS

Interstate International Sources: The Points Guy, CNN, Trip.com, Travel + Leisure, AFAR, Travel O Path, Times of India, and Travel Agent Central

SUMMER HOMEWORK = SCHOOL-YEAR SUCCESS

Article by Sarah Zehnder Graphics by Jaidyn Holt

When the surveyed students completed their summer assignments

very end of summer

48.5%

throughout entire summer 28.1% 90% 90% of surveyed Trinity students reported that their summer assignments were related or somewhat related to the first unit of class

once school began again

never 4.3% 3.7% beginning

of summer

10% 6.4% 9.7% 17.4% 23.1% 93.6%

As exams are getting closer and summer break is just around the corner, the hectic work load that many Trinity students are facing will soon subside. However, the work is never really over. The beginning of summer break also means the beginning of the infamous summer assignments. Although most students want to avoid anything that will interrupt the blissful, school-free relaxation of summer, these assignments are an important part of preparing for an upcoming class.

There are a variety of reasons why Classes for which surveyed students teachers ashad summer homework sign summer Language work: to keep Math Science the brain History moving, to give students an idea of the English workload, to begin learning new material, and more.

The most obvious and popular reason is to keep the mind engaged. Summer learning loss is a phenomenon in which students forget information they learned over the last school year. Most information about learning loss, also known as brain drain, focuses on younger students. This is because elementary school students are learning basic information that is crucial to development. However, highschoolers also experience a fair amount of learning loss.

“It is really important to keep students in the mode of reading,” Social Science department chair Robin Grenz said.

In a recent New York Times article, Professor Mark Bauerlein of Emory University recommended all teachers, especially those teaching high school students, assign summer homework. He believes that summer homework is the most effective way to combat learning loss. “What the assignment consists of will vary with the student population, but some extension of learning into vacation time is sorely needed,” Bauerlein said. If the goal is to keep students’ minds moving during summer break, Grenz said the content does not make a difference. “I like to maybe assign a novel the students would not ordinarily read to give them insight into a topic that perhaps we are not going to fully cover during the year,” Grenz said. Other instuctors utilize the time over the summer for students to get a head start on material. That way, the summer assignment easily transitions into the first unit of class. In a recent survey of Trinity’s student body, 54.4% of students who participated reported that their summer assignments for at least one of their classes was related to the first unit of that class for this year. “Textbook reading is a good way to start learning,” Grenz said. “It is not a bad idea to get a jump start on things.” World language teacher Kyle McGimsey said that the main goal of summer assignments is for AP Latin students to begin the year with a general understanding of the material. “When we come across it in the school year, for the students to be able to look back on the information and go ‘Oh yeah, I remember that,’” McGimsey said. Another motivation for giving summer assignments, usually paired with reading, is so students can get a feel for the upcoming workload. Especially for AP or advanced courses, textbook or nonfiction reading is common. Although the College Board does not explicitly recommend any resources before the school year, they advise students to complete reading directly assigned by AP teachers. McGimsey also said that he uses his summer assignments for AP Latin as a stepping stone to the material during the year and to help students become familiar with the advanced curriculum. “What we really are looking for is a starting point, because we will go back and re-read everything again in detail during the year,” McGimsey said. The most beneficial kind of summer assignments depend on the course and teacher. The effectiveness can also hinge on timing. When is the ideal time to begin summer assignments? “I would suggest students to read through the assignment so that you can ask yourself what I am asking of you,” Science teacher Elmarie Mortimer said. “Then read the book whenever you have time. I would say if you are to spread out the work, know where each of the assignments is going to take you.” “I think that students are more likely to remember and understand the texts better when it is broken up into sections,” McGimsey said. Although students can feel like the last thing they want to do during summer break, summer assignments are a beneficial test-run of what to expect for the upcoming year. “It feels to me that the summer time is the only time that students at Trinity have the time to just sit and think and that is what I like about summer assignments,” Mortimer said.

TRINITY VOICE

Graphic by Sarah Lin

According to the Trinity website, a portion of the mission is to “develop individuals who will excel in college and in life, contribute to their communities, lead in a changing society.” For students to excel in life and lead in an evolving society, they must have the opportunity to become agents of change within our campus rst. However, the limited connection between students and administrators hinders student voice and expression, leaving our mission unful lled.

Lack of Communiction

Administrators are sta who manage school operations without directly teaching students. Due to no in-classroom relationships, it is easy to create a gap between administration and students. Without a familiar relationship, a student will not feel comfortable approaching an administrator even if the administrator is willing to listen to their concerns.

Our Trinity family is left estranged if our school cannot connect across all aspects of our campus. It is up to both the students and the faculty to work together to re-establish the Trinity family. e lack of communication creates a bigger issue on campus; no communication breeds resentment. As more rules are enacted and enforced, there is little communication explaining the rules’ purpose. e mystery of the rules facilitates rumors that demonize a policy that had harmless intentions.

Getting student input or explaining the reasons behind the rules eliminates confusion. For example, when hall passes rst appeared on campus, many students were confused about their purpose.

“I think [hall passes] are not useful because teachers never stop to check hall passes or ask why you are not in your class,” sophomore Abbie ompson said. “Since hall passes are not always enforced, I see no point in having them. As long as your teacher knows where you are there shouldn’t be an issue.”

To most students hall passes appeared out of nowhere, making them unfavorable across the student body. However, they originally had good and necessary intentions.

“A lot of the catalyst for [hall passes] had to do with attendance, the accuracy of attendance was highly problematic. I know a lot of people don’t believe this, but the one legal requirement that all schools public or private have is attendance records.” Head of Upper School Tracy Bonday said. “ ere have been inconsistencies in tracking attendance. e hope was that by using the hall passes, we would get teachers to go back and be more accountable to accurately re ect right whether a student was physically present in their class or not because they would have that visual reminder.”

While the hall passes were a good way to solve the inaccurate attendance issue, many students were unaware of this. e failure to communicate the true reason for the passes to the student body leads to them being unpopular and thus not consistently used. erefore, their original purpose is defeated.

While the hall passes were a good way to

Limited Voice

Not only does minimal communication hurt policies on campus, but it also hurts student expression. Clubs such as the diversity club have facilitated conversations about inequity on campus. While they have made a valiant e ort, most of their ideas have been thrown to the side; the dress code remains the same, and feminine products are still not provided in the girls’ restrooms. As more student ideas are overlooked, the less likely students are to continue to share their thoughts.

A way to create familiarity is through clubs and the student council. ese extracurriculars are good ways for passionate students to get involved and get into contact with the school. By communicating what was wrong and what needs to be changed, a relationship can be formed. e student will then feel more comfortable expressing themselves to an administrator because they feel the administrator already knows them. e school is making positive steps to creating communication and connection on cam-

Connection on campus will promote student expression

pus. For example, the student council is able to participate in many changes occurring at the school.

“[Student council] sat down with some of the candidates for the new assistant, Head of School as well. We’re not making decisions about that, but it’s a way that candidates coming in for administrative positions can get a student’s perspective on things that are happening,” student council advisor and Assistant Dean of Students and Activities Director Kyle McGimsey said. “I found our students were pretty honest. ey were very upfront about how they were feeling.”

McGimsey also explained that members of the student council have a chance to share their thoughts on making revisions to the student handbook.

However, communication like this only is available to the four students from each grade elected into the council. Allowing certain clubs or other interested students to come to speak at certain meetings would give a more diverse range of the student body the chance to feel heard by the administration. is range does not have to apply to the entire student body, but it helps people who want to get involved to have a more o cial opportunity of sharing their thoughts.

By creating situations where administrators must directly talk to students, the campus will slowly progress to a more uni ed space.

Using assemblies to address new rules or even simply acknowledging to the students they have heard their voices can foster a more connected campus. An administrator can meet with clubs to get an idea of student perception on campus. e student body and faculty should work as partners with the goal of creating the best learning environment. Both must be open to hearing ideas, accepting ideas, or understanding why the idea cannot happen.

Actual Action

However, while verbal communication is a good stepping stone, actual action and changes are what will successfully connect the entirety of the school. Either actively changing issues on campus or creating conversations about why that policy cannot be changed can create a stronger connection.

For example, when a student posts Google forms over campus to raise awareness about amending the dress code, an administrator can meet with that student. ey then can explain to each other their concerns and compromise on a new policy that will please the most people on campus.

“I think it is really important that everybody in the community, students, faculty, sta , administrators, feel like they have an opportunity to be heard,” McGimsey said. “Understanding that just because I say once it’s going to happen, doesn’t mean it’s always going to happen. But to feel like somebody is genuinely listening and really considering where I’m at, it’s important because it gives us all a sense of ownership of the school. When we feel like we have ownership of the school, we are able to take more pride in what we do every day.”

Once the campus is more connected, students will be able to express themselves and voice their opinions. Ideas, such as the ones presented by the diversity club, will have more e ect. Even little steps like having an administrator explain a dress code referral or speak to a club that has brought up a concern will create more connections. Once students can become agents of change on campus, they will then excel in life, and they will carry what they learned at Trinity into helping create change in the world.

“ e value to communication is that students want to know that their voices can be heard. ere’s a bene t and mutual respect also being taught like the idea of how you should communicate with an adult and how we can have respectful conversations and discussions,” Bonday said. “ at’s part of learning valuable 21st-century skills that helped to have you ready for the college experience and careers after college. Having the opportunity to be able to come forward and have a frank conversation with an administrator is an important part of the informal learning process and growth and development as high school students.”

e lead editorial expresses the opinion of the Trinity Voice editorial sta . Please send comments to voice@trinityprep.org.

TEXTBOOK RACISM

Article by Reese Taylor Graphics by Sarah Lin

Between gasps of air, Serena Williams demanded her doctors give her a CT scan and a heparin drip after giving birth to her daughter in 2018. Williams said in her interview at Vox that, instead of being met with concern from her medical sta , her nurse insisted that pain medicine was inducing her “confusion.”

Myths in medicine surrounding people of color are detrimental to the healthcare they receive. Racial inequality in healthcare is a multifaceted issue, but by addressing the history of medical myths and misnomers, we can begin to bring an end to racial inequality in healthcare.

As recently as 2020, COVID-19 proved that medical misnomers are hardly a thing of the past. Information circulated the internet on platforms like Twitter and TikTok claiming that Black people were immune to COVID-19, even as, according to Bloomberg, COVID-19 rates continued to rise throughout Africa and the Caribbean. While these claims were often made as a joke, unsubstantiated ideas about medical care for people of color have a far reaching history.

DISMANTLING MEDICAL MYTHS

In the manual “A Treatise on Tropical Diseases; and on e Climate of the West-Indies,” the late 1700s British doctor Benjamin Moseley asserted that Black people were able to handle immeasurable levels of pain, citing his numerous amputations on them as reference.

Moseley’s claims laid the foundation for centuries of medical torture. In her book, “Medical Apartheid,” Harriet A. Washington detailed how brain surgery, electrical shocks, amputation and mutilation were accepted for centuries as a necessary means for medical advancement as long as its recipients weren’t white.

Similar misnomers also prevailed in Native American communities. Samantha M. Williams, a PhD historian and writer who worked as a consultant for the Nevada Indian Commission, explained in her article the details of the studies conducted on indigenous children in Native American boarding schools during the 1960s and 70s.

In 1975, e Children’s Defense Fund raised concerns about drugs used to treat trachoma, an infection of the eye that can result in blindness, being tested on Native American children in these schools. Speci cally, they asked whether the children’s parents had consented (they hadn’t) and whether the children would face any “unnecessary risks.”

Aside from infringing upon the bodily autonomy of the students, it was discovered that e Indian Health Service had run placebo trials on children with trachoma, allowing them to su er from the disease in service of research that the children wouldn’t get to bene t from.

Similar to Black Americans, the medical cruelty committed against Native Americans was justi ed by centuries of myths that dehumanized them. From as early as Andrew Jackson’s presidency, indigenous Americans were described as biologically inferior. Regardless of e Indian Health Service’s past, the organization continues to be contro-

A history of medical myths run deeper than they may seem

versial. One member of the Confederate Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Anna Whiting Sorrell, detailed the e ects of the myth that Native Americans received free healthcare from the federal government.

“ e Hellgate Treaty of 1855 says that because we gave up Western Montana we get healthcare,” Sorrell said to Montana Public Radio. “We paid for it. But we don’t just get healthcare for free. at’s not what’s happened at all.”

However, as a result of the treaty, there is still a belief in indigenous communities that federally provided healthcare is guaranteed. In reality, the Indian Health service spent 3,332 dollars per patient as of 2017 in comparison to the 12,829 dollars allocated to patients under Medicare according to e New York Times.

Even so, indigenous Americans mostly remain within the Indian Health Service (IHS) because of the barriers preventing access to the private sector of healthcare. is means that health care systems that exist beyond the IHS rarely service Native American patients.

EFFECTS OF MISNOMERS

For people of color, the e ects of medical myths are evidenced in the rates of death and misdiagnoses within their population.

According to an article published in e US National Library of Medicine & National Institutes of Health, while people of color are less likely to become a icted with skin cancer, they are far more likely to die from it due to a delay in diagnosis.

Dr. Naiara Abreu Fraga Braghiroli from the Miami Cancer Institute cited that the average 5-year survival rate for melanoma is 92% in white populations but 67% percent for Black people. is is because it tends to only be caught in later stages of diagnosis.

One of the prominent e ects of medical misnomers is the high mortality rate among black women, especially in pregnancy. According to a BBC report, Black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. e e ects of medical misnomers are far reaching and Black communities are painfully aware of their position within the healthcare system. Dr. Rohana Motley White, obstetrician gynecologist at Advent Health, noted that the pain of black women is constantly neglected. She continued saying that the fear this instills in black women when they interact with medical professionals is paralyzing.

FINDING SOLUTIONS

Dr. Hao Feng, an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Connecticut reported to the New York Times that only 10% of medical textbooks present skin diseases on darkly pigmented skin. When they are included, they most often depict syphilis, a disease most notorious for its involvement in the unethical Tuskegee experiment which was run on Black Americans in the 1930s, similar to the studies on indigenous children. e reality is, medical conditions and symptoms present di erently in varying levels of skin pigmentation. Because of that, academia needs to re ect diversity of skin tone.

However, Black medical illustrators are working to nd a solution. Chidiebere Ibe is a Nigerian medical illustrator currently studying at Kyiv Medical University. His work went viral throughout the internet with his picture of a Black fetus.

As there is a continued push for diversity in medical illustrations, Yale senior medical student Joel Bervell noted the medical illustrations we are getting are dominated by images that portray people of color with infectious diseases. Bervell runs a TikTok page dedicated to disproving medical myths, as a self-proclaimed “Medical Mythbuster.” And he’s skyrocketed to fame, amassing 11.8 million likes.

“It’s so interesting that in any case that mentions a non-white person, it’s always in relation to an infectious disease,” he said in a recent video. “All that does is reinforce stereotypes about marginalized populations and that’s not the way to make medical illustrations more equitable.”

However, the push for diversity, not only in the medical doctors and physicians, but also addressing the myths that continue to prevail in medicine are a pertinent solution to the problem.

When the resources available to healthcare professionals are severely void of diversity, people of color become the victims of a system built o of their own exploitation. But by reclaiming their space within institutions that historically exclude them, people of color can prove that medical diversity is more than just skin deep.