Dueling Column: We Need to Return to Virtual

Austin Distel/Unsplash

Nathan Nayor/ Staff Writer

Read “Returning to Remote Learning is a Mistake” by Jacqueline Flores here.

With the highly infectious Omicron variant going around, we should avoid as much indoors, crowded close contact as possible, a setting guaranteed by classrooms big and small.  The University of Miami and Harvard are starting their spring semesters virtually, and FIU should follow suit to prevent further spread of this deadly virus that has kept everyone distant for nearly two years now.  

Florida’s power hungry governor, Ron DeSantis, notoriously passed and reinstated legislation which effectively bans mask mandates on students in schools, with the punishment for disobedience being the revocation of funding. 

FIU famously removed their mask mandate last year, before the statewide ban on mask mandates, and resumed sports as players were continuously infected due to exposure in contact sports, especially football.  

With the lack of proper social distancing and mask usage, this pandemic is going to continue indefinitely until proper action is taken by authorities and citizens or until we find a cure that works quickly, and that is very optimistic.   

With the ban of mask mandates, the next best step to prevent transmission of COVID-19 would be to return classes to the virtual setting, be it fully online or on Zoom, so that we can keep as many Panthers as safe as possible via isolation and the reduction of large groups that classrooms tend to consist of.

While this strain does not tend to be as deadly as other forms of COVID-19, it is notably resistant to antibody treatments and appears in vaccinated individuals at higher rates than the Delta variant and the original strain, with only a smaller chance of infection in those with the booster shot.  

Those who do get infected and require hospitalization should they be so unfortunate would have a more difficult time finding effective treatment due to the Omicron variant’s mutations. 

Additionally, this new variant also seems to get through cloth masks easier, making mask models like N95s the most desirable mask as they are shown to be more resistant through their thickness.  With those models being more expensive compared to other masks, some people might not even try to use them.  

With both of these heralded methods of prevention becoming less effective, social distancing should be enforced as much as possible, with isolation being the ideal way to avoid infection.  FIU desperately needs to implement virtual classes again in order to ensure student and staff safety as well as to finally cap the spread.

Abstaining from social contact is crucial to fighting the pandemic. It reduces the risk of exposure and infection more than masks and vaccines do by effectively avoiding potential carriers of the Coronavirus as much as possible.  

Omicron is much more contagious than other strains, and it is crucial to prevent the spread as much as possible.  FIU should make its classes virtual again to ensure Panthers’ safety until it is truly safe to begin socializing again.

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash