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Nicole M

Dr. Gold

30 August 2020

Academic Writing

Should Schools Wait for a COVID-19 Vaccine?

Bbbbring! Bbbbring! School is in session, and it is time for students to learn surrounded by their

peers! Or is it? In 2020, though there are several problems, COVID-19, or coronavirus, is likely the most

notable. Coronavirus, a global pandemic, is dangerous to people everywhere; there are still hotspots and a

large number of cases in the US. Schools are now facing the challenging choice of whether or not they

should have school in person. There are several set precautions that are recommended for people to take

for their safety and the safety of others, like wearing a mask; however, it is difficult in some situations to

follow the guidelines. Some people disregard them entirely. Before having students go back to school in

person, school buildings should wait until there is a vaccine.

COVID-19 has many negative effects, and we do not know all the long-term harm this virus

could cause. First of all, death is the most serious outcome from having corona. Even though people have

recovered from this virus, the death toll is noticeable. People with compromised immune systems have an

even greater chance of this virus being fatal. Contracting coronavirus can also have a lasting impact. The

negative effects to a person’s lungs and the rest of their respiratory system emphasizes why COVID-19

should be treated seriously. A paper published by Nature Medicine elaborates more on the damage

coronavirus can cause on people. The study included 178 people and was designed to study the lungs of

people infected with coronavirus who show no symptoms. 66.7% of them were found to have

abnormalities in one lung, while 33.3% of them had abnormalities in both. Moreover, we don’t know all

the lasting effects yet. There could be unknown health problems that show up in the future for corona

survivors. Additionally, people who are asymptomatic can easily spread corona across schools without

knowing it. In her NPR Article, Pien Huang elaborates on the fact that people who are carriers of other
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common diseases, like the flu, are not really examined, so we do not have much of a standard for

asymptomatic people with coronavirus. Students may not know they have COVID because they do not

show any expected signs of it. Not only does unawareness cause risks for the infected person, it also

greatly endangers anyone they come into contact with, especially those who are immunosuppressed. “The

symptoms underestimate the severity of the disease,” claims Dr. Alvin Ing, a professor of respiratory

medicine at Macquarie University. Though the symptoms, or lack thereof, do not seem concerning, the

virus might still be doing unknown damage to the infected person. The known and unknown harms of

COVID-19 are serious issues that affect everyone.

If the number of COVID-19 cases for each day were to decrease, schools would be able to safely

go back to in-person learning. Going to school without a significant decrease in cases increases the

chance of students getting COVID-19. Because there is a great number of COVID cases, there is a greater

possibility of students coming in contact with someone who has COVID outside of school; this leads to

students spreading the virus inside the school. Precautions like wearing a mask and staying six feet apart

will help lessen the amount of cases. Following safety measures like these make it harder for corona to

spread from one person to another; the chance of getting covid from a person with a mask is greatly

lowered from the chance there is with a person not wearing a mask. MayoClinic, a non profit

organization dedicated to providing expert care and information through clinical practice, research, and

education, published an article elaborating on the three types of masks. Surgical masks trap large particles

in the air. The second type of mask, N95, is designed to trap 95% of small particles in the air. Cloth

masks are designed to trap droplets that come from the wearer coughing, talking, or sneezing. These

masks are meant to help lessen the spread of corona in public situations with everyone wearing one,

especially for people who are asymptomatic. Despite this, cases are still going up in the US for a number

of reasons. Whether it is people distrusting the virus’s authenticity or those who are simply getting bored

of quarantine, it is unlikely that the cases will decrease anytime soon unless significant changes are made.
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Actively working towards lessening COVID cases will help allow schools to safely go back to hosting

students in buildings.

Waiting for a vaccine is likely the safest option for students, teachers, and their families.

Vaccines allow people to gain immunity, and it would be a safer way to prevent COVID-19 than

requiring people to stay six feet apart and so forth. Mayo Clinic also suggests that it is the “best hope for

ending the pandemic.” Everyone being able to get a vaccine will help create herd immunity from COVID.

However, according to the Mayo Clinic article, there are several types of vaccines, and a certain type, a

live vaccine, can cause concerns for people with weakened immune systems. Still, people who are unable

to get vaccines, for medical reasons or otherwise, will still benefit from the COVID-19 vaccine being

created. A majority of the population getting vaccinated helps lessen the possibility of people carrying

and spreading COVID, which means that even those who do not use the vaccine will have less chance of

catching corona. Schools waiting for a vaccine does not mean that students are losing that learning and

education time; online school is a valuable alternative that students everywhere can utilize. The only

difference is that it will be in a safer setting compared to having to sit in a classroom, running the risk that

someone might be a carrier of coronavirus. Although the transition may not be seamless, it will be

smoother if schools prepare for online education from the start instead of having to change all of their

lessons dedicated to in person learning to ones formatted for online. Last year, when COVID-19 first

became a common word in everyone’s vocabulary, the transition from school to home did not work out

well in. Teachers struggled to recreate and amend their lessons to fit the online learning structure while

students struggled to keep up with the sudden switch and confusion about what was online and the

changes the lesson plan went through. The best option for schools is to not open their physical doors until

a vaccine comes out.

Despite COVID-19 being dangerous, some people may argue that schools are able to require

students to take the necessary precautions, like wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart, to prevent the

spread of COVID. These precautions should, arguably, be able to keep students safe enough to not have
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to avoid going back to schools. Even though these measures are effective in some situations, they are not

ideal in a school setting. Middle and high schoolers may have little to no trouble following these

procedures, but lower grades, specifically kindergarteners, will have difficulties understanding the

guidelines. How will teachers be able to effectively educate their class and get them to behave and sit, six

feet apart, away from their friends? Not only this, if just one person were to have corona, then the school

would have to quarantine or shut down. There is little use for students to go to school for a week, only to

have to switch to online class. Already, evidence of this happening is appearing as schools across the

country start opening. Drawing on the information of the New York Times article, “As the Coronavirus

Comes to a Close, a Tough Choice: When to Close,” by Sarah Mervosh and Shawn Hubbler, in the first

week of learning, students in Mississippi were found to have coronavirus, which meant their classmates

were required to quarantine. Students will not be able to learn much with, as the New York Times article

notes, a “stop-and-start year”, and the only takeaway from going to school would be the possibility of

having COVID. Knowingly putting them in a position to contract COVID and harming their respiratory

system is not worth it. Although schools have the authority to input certain measures to hinder the spread

of this virus, they will not be able to keep students as safe as they need to be.

Coronavirus is dangerous, and in some cases, deadly. Going online is a challenge, but it is worth

it to ensure the safety of American citizens. This will keep teachers and staff, students, and their families

all across the country safe. Though there are procedures, like wearing a mask, in place to help avoid

spreading COVID, it is not possible to follow them in certain places. Due to the known and unknown

effects of COVID-19, schools should not do in-person learning until the cases significantly decrease or a

vaccine is created.

Works Cited

Huang, Pien. “We Still Don't Fully Understand The Label 'Asymptomatic'.” NPR, 23 June 2020,
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www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/23/864536258/we-still-dont-fully-understand-the-

label-asymptomatic.

Long, Quan-Xin, et al. “Clinical and Immunological Assessment of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2

Infections.” Nature Medicine, vol. 26, no. 8, 2020, pp. 1200–1204., doi:10.1038/ s41591-020-

0965-6.

Mayo Clinic Staff. “Can Face Masks Protect against the Coronavirus?” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation

for Medical Education and Research, 20 Aug. 2020, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/

coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-mask/art-20485449.

Mayo Clinic Staff. “Get the Facts about a COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Vaccine.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo

Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 10 June 2020, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-

conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-vaccine/art-20484859.

Mervosh, Sarah, and Shawn Hubler. “As the Coronavirus Comes to School, a Tough Choice: When to

Close.” The New York Times, 3 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/us/school-closing-

coronavirus.html.
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