There is a deep irony in the recent surge of COVID cases. 

It’s not that 83% of these new cases are from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Variants are a common feature of viruses. It’s a form of evolution, and it is how everything – and everyone – survives over time.

It’s not that the vaccines have an effectiveness rate of 88% against the Delta variant and that only roughly 7 in 1000 people being admitted to hospitals with COVID are not vaccinated. We have known for nearly a century that vaccines work, and that all approved vaccines have side effects that are, on the whole, far less common and far less dangerous than the illness itself. 

It’s that the very people who were most upset that schools closed last spring will be the cause if schools are unable to open in person again this fall.

The same folks who burned masks, shouted at school officials, disrupted Board meetings, yelled at teachers and principals, and demanded schools reopen have chosen not to get the vaccine. And the vaccine is what makes school reopening possible even as a pandemic rages around the world.

We ALL want schools open

One thing these protestors seem to misunderstand is that we ALL want schools to be open for in-person learning. 

Teachers want schools to be open. Students want to be at school. Paraprofessionals and parents and custodians and dozens of others want their lives and their livelihoods to be normal. 

But the people who work in and attend schools deserve to have a safe workplace. Being mad doesn’t make it safer. Protesting and namecalling doesn’t keep anyone safer. 

Being vaccinated does. Wearing a mask does.

Does “the government” want schools open? Yes. The normal functioning of everyday life is the most basic promise a government can make. But how do we know? Is their messaging clear? Can we believe them?

The CDC school reopening guidelines offer dozens of suggestions for how to safely reopen. The list opens, however, with this statement: “Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 is a priority.”

Translation: “We want schools to be open, safely.”

They’ve offered free vaccines to anyone 12 and old who wants them, and instituted a delivery system that for a while was vaccinating over 2 million people a day. McDonald’s took 4 years to sell a million hamburgers, and they had the advantage of being able to manufacture them on site.

They’ve dramatically reduced the number of cases across the United States, allowing municipalities and businesses and schools to open back up for in-person everything. 

It is what we ALL want.

Perhaps as a parent, you have had a situation where your child really wanted something, say, a bike. But they can’t afford it, and their birthday is weeks away. They don’t get any points for being angry about it. They don’t get any credit for demanding it. Or stomping their feet, or holding their breath. 

If you really want something, whether it is a bike or open schools, you will have to do the hard work required to earn it. For the bike, this might mean taking on a few extra chores to earn money around the house. Family members are often very generous when you’re working toward an objective. 

For schools to reopen safely, the “hard work” is masks and a vaccine. And it’s not even that hard.

I can’t breathe go to school

Two days ago, I watched olympic swimmer Ahmed Hafnaoui from Tunisia climb out of the pool as the world’s newest gold medalist. He then put on a mask and, still breathing heavily from peak exertion unlike that most people experience in their lifetimes, he gave an interview in English that was easily understood. His second language. He patiently endured questions and regained his breath. In a mask. 

Claims that “I can’t breathe” or “I can’t hear” while wearing a mask are specious at best, and insincere. 

Yes, masks are uncomfortable. We all forget them sometimes, and it’s a hassle to have to double back or ask for another. But this is true for a lot of requirements in life – work lanyards, the lunch you packed, an insulin pack, an inhaler. They are all a small inconvenience you take on in order to function smoothly, more effectively, and safely in the larger world. This is true for masks.

Yes, getting the shot is inconvenient. At least it was when I got my second shot. Many of us stood in long lines with hundreds of other people. Some of us, myself included, repeated the exercise when taking an aging parent to get their shot. There were certainly other types of memorable experiences I was trying to have, instead of standing in line for a shot, or yearning for a hug from someone at church.

The shot might even hurt, though I don’t know anyone who said it did. But it didn’t scar my arm the way the smallpox vaccine did to a generation of us. And we eradicated smallpox. 

We can do hard things. Turning COVID from a pandemic to an annual nuisance, like a potent strain of the flu, is a thing we can do together. 

But we’re going to have to do more than just complain really loudly to make that happen.