How Might COVID Affect Next Year?

We’re all surely wondering what is in store for the next few months. We all have many questions and t's hard to put these worries at ease when there is still so much going on. We’re still wondering when will Covid be “over” and what might next year bring? 

Unfortunately, we don’t have that answer yet. And I’m not sure if we ever will. At least not a definitive date. It is nearly impossible to predict when something as overwhelmingly large as this virus will just “stop”. Truthfully, something like this never stops, rather, we learn how to manage and control it better. 

A perfect example: the flu. What once swept the nation as the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, leaving almost 50 million people dead, is now brushed off as little more than a cold. We, of course, can’t just make the flu disappear, just like we can’t with Covid-19. However, soon we will have a better handle on it which is what will give us our lives back. We still can catch the flu, we still can get sick from it, but we can handle it better now that we know more.

On the bright side, the vaccines that have recently seem to be working well. In the past month and a half vaccines have been distributed first and foremost to our healthcare workers and anyone working and living in a nursing home or older people at risk.

 In the upcoming weeks we will be seeing vaccines go out to teachers across the country. Meaning, here at HF many of our teachers will be among some of the first people to get vaccinated! Senior here at HF, Kelsi Smith, expressed amazement saying, “Seeing the vaccine start going out to the people around us gives me so much hope for the future.”

While interviewing my mom, a preschool teacher, who is receiving the vaccine soon, she expressed her excitement to be able to, “Share my experience with close friends and family to be able to put anybody’s worries at ease.”

I wish I could say that this vaccine was the answer to our prayers, but it’s not completely. It will help us tremendously, however, it doesn’t stop the virus from coexisting among us. We still need to be careful for a long time. Having a vaccine doesn't mean that cases can’t go up. 

We can all agree that the last thing we want is for this pandemic to cross into the summer, the fall, and even 2022. A time that might seem  tremendously far away, in hindsight, isn’t that far. 

If you’re a senior here at HF, you probably feel this part the most. Most of us will be pursuing our futures next year in whatever way we see fit. Some of us going to college, others traveling, getting jobs, etc. Whatever our plans are, we don’t want covid interfering. 

To put things in context: it has been a year of this pandemic and it seems like many people just haven’t learned their lesson, and still don’t follow social distancing guidelines. So what’s to say that this can’t continue for another year? 

It feels like having the vaccine is only going to give people an excuse to go out and travel even more. Not only that, but also the fact that vaccines most likely won’t be distributed to everyone until the end of this 2021. Even then, many people will undoubtedly refuse to get the vaccine. If we don’t work collectively and all get it to protect each other, then how is it ever going to get better?