Each day as people walk to class in the hallways, they can see people blocking the stairwell walking on each side of the halfway. You can’t go to your next class without bumping into someone. Masks on the bus are enforced strictly using shouting and yelling. But how did we get here? 

Masks are required by the CDC, not by the district. According to the CDC, “Staying 6 feet away from others is often difficult on public transportation conveyances. People may not be able to distance themselves by the recommended minimum of 6 feet from other people seated nearby or from those standing in or passing through the aisles on airplanes, trains, or buses.”

What doesn’t make sense is that they say this due to the interstate or intrastate spreading of COVID-19. Why? Liberty students don’t live across the state, we all live in St. Charles County that’s classified as municipal transport and maybe some of us live in other counties near us but still. If the CDC is considering LHS buses as interstate transportation they need to review their guidelines and think again. If we’re still worried about COVID-19, let the school and the people who learn and teach in it decide our mask rules here at LHS and not someone who’s never been in this county. 

No one keeps on their side and it adds to the chaos making people going down the hallway to their next hour have to elbow through. When coming down the stairs, it seems there are always people just blocking the main stairwell and the hallway where the 100 hallway’s triple doors meet the 300 hallway.

So why do we not have masks on in the hallways, but yet it’s enforced so heavily on the bus?

The bus is hot, loud, and overall just not a fun time especially for the people who go three to a seat. Middle schoolers suffer more, as they have to wait to drop off the high schoolers before they can reach their destination.