Ever since the second semester of school started, it seemed like everyone I knew was getting Covid. It could not have been a coincidence that winter break had just ended, and people were coming back to school. In fact, this was occurring all over the nation. Covid-19 cases dramatically increased for the first couple weeks after the new year, even hitting a record of 1.35 million cases in the United States in one day. Although the spread has generally slowed from the chaos it was, I realized that this pandemic still presents the same level of danger it did last year. Last year there was the option for students to stay home from school and learn remotely through their iPads, but not this year.

Considering the magnitude of spreading cases among Central and the rest of the Omaha community, I think the students who want to stay home should have the option to do so. I do not think the 3/2 model or fully online format of school matched everyone’s preference, so just giving the option to learn remotely would help. For some students, going to school in this pandemic means having to gamble on the lives of their family members every day. Immunocompromised and older people among many other groups cannot risk being exposed to Covid-19 as they have a much higher chance of dying if they are infected. Some students must go to school and come home to their families that include these high-risk people. This obviously does not apply to every person in the school but still should not be ignored, as every family situation is unique and deserves to be noticed. In addition, Covid cases in general will decrease as there will be less people to spread it at school and certain families will be more isolated from the pandemic. Online learning will combat Covid-19 and shorten the time we all must wait before a fully normal learning environment can finally return.

Bringing back online learning can be tough for many teachers who are already trying their best to allocate for each student’s needs during this tough time. However, I truly believe that balance between in-person and remote learning can be achieved through everyone’s continued hard work in OPS. In order to fight this pandemic will full force, online learning needs to be an option for students.