By Brendan Phimsoutham, Staff Writer
With the 2021 Mills High School academic year kicking off with in-person classes again, questions have arisen for the county and state regarding what is to come for students of all grades. Covid-19 and its destructive effects still remain as the new Delta variant is beginning to creep up on San Mateo County, bringing much concern to all residents, workers, and visitors in the area. As a solution, San Mateo County Health has continuously given updates on the status of the pandemic and the rules and restrictions that follow.
During the week of August 9th, 2021, schools in San Mateo County began to reopen with on-campus learning in effect. Much planning was required in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among students, including a requirement for all students to wear masks indoors and even outdoors on the campus.
“The District will provide face coverings when necessary. However, staff are expected to bring personal face coverings to ensure they are properly worn by employees over the nose and mouth when indoors, outdoors and less than six (6) feet away from another person, including non-employees, and where required by orders from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) or San Mateo County Health,” SMUHSD stated in their spring 2021 Covid prevention plan. However, as of August 2nd, 2021, San Mateo County announced the alarming presence of the new Delta variant and its effects on both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
An unexpected appearance to everyone, the Delta variant was reported to have infected a small percentage of vaccinated people in the Bay Area. This has begun to worry not only the SMUHSD, but San Mateo County as a whole. The presence of the Delta Variant alone poses a huge threat to students and teachers that need to be in the same room and will prevent on campus teaching with the risk of the virus spreading from classroom to classroom.
The amount of concern from the County has led to the questioning of whether or not another quarantine should take place, compromising plans for the 2021 school year. Despite the seemingly imminent change in schedule, students, parents, and staff of Mills High School have begun to grow tired of the constant updates in rules and regulations; another quarantine could provoke a harsh response from people.
