by Avery Prudenti ’22

We have all been out of school for 83 days now, and it has taken its toll on many. People spent those months waiting, and hoping for quarantine to finally be lifted. Maryland has had 55,858 confirmed cases over the past couple of months, and although that number is flattening, we’re still not in the clear yet. As of June 3, there are 807 active cases, with Montgomery county citizens making up for quite a bit of them. Businesses are starting to open up, little by little, and people are finally starting to see the light at the end of the dark tunnel.

Many people see this light as an excuse to forget all social distancing rules and pretend that everything is back to normal now, which is not the case. People need to go back to normal life as cautiously as possible, using masks while near others, and washing their hands often. Now is not the time to throw caution to the wind, because these rules are what is needed to keep everyone safe, all while allowing them to start moving back into their old lives again.

Now that businesses are opening up again, many people are getting their jobs back and this is a positive thing for people’s bank accounts and morale. With these openings though, we need to be careful to prevent a second spike in cases, because I, and I’m sure others, definitely do not want to go back to quarantining again.