Since the outbreak of COVID-19, it has difficult trying to keep everyone safe and healthy during the school year. There have been many students going into quarantine, not just because they have contracted it, but because they have been in close proximity with someone who has. 

At Liberty, the Wentzville School District has decided to put students on modified quarantine in accordance with Missouri Governor Mike Parson’s K-12 Quarantine Guidance Plan, which was released on Nov. 12, 2020. Through these new rules, people who are in contact with those who have tested positive while both parties were using correct mask-wearing practices, do not have to go under full quarantine.

I think this is such a ridiculous idea that the district has made. 

After speaking to many students who are currently in modified quarantine, they all agree that they would much rather get fully quarantined and have to stay at home than come to school and not be able to participate in their activities.

Why are students only allowed to and from school when they have been around someone who has or might have the virus? What happens if they keep coming to school and they actually have contracted the virus? The “quarantine” they are in doesn’t even matter anymore. They are just going to keep riding on the same bus as everyone, coming to the same classes as everyone, eating lunch around everyone, and actively spreading the virus around to others at school. 

Instead of having students go into modified quarantine, the school should return to what they had been doing before- what the CDC has recommended for almost a full year now: Normal quarantine, where students would go home and not come back until two weeks later when they are confirmed to not have COVID-19. Yes, this means a lot of students would have to go home and miss in-person learning, but it’s much safer.