When Gov. Andy Beshear lifted the mask mandates in June, Kentuckians everywhere breathed a sigh of relief. They could finally return to their everyday lives and stop having to worry about whether or not they’ll get sick from going to work or to the grocery store. The relief did not last very long. Around July of 2021, cases of COVID-19 began spiking all over the U.S. with the arrival of the Delta variant, which is more infectious and more dangerous than other strains. Because of this, Beshear signed an executive order that mandated masks indoors in K-12 schools, childcare and pre-kindergarten programs on Tuesday, Aug 10. This caused an uproar in many schools across the state. Parents, teachers and students began to protest the mandate, one of which happened outside of Hickman County High School. Multiple students, parents and teachers stood outside of the school and held up signs protesting the new mask mandate. When asked what happened outside of Marshall County High School, students told of parents and other adults standing outside of the school, yelling at the children to take their masks off as they got off the bus and entered the school. These protests caught the eye of the Kentucky Supreme Court. On Saturday, Aug 21, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled to restrain Beshear’s emergency powers, limiting his state of emergency to thirty days. This begs the question, did Beshear do what was right for Kentuckians, and did the Kentucky Supreme Court serve the people or the politics?
We believe Beshear was in the moral right to mandate masks in schools. First, Beshear has made unpopular decisions for the betterment of the Commonwealth of Kentucky before. Back when the pandemic began, Beshear almost immediately implemented mask mandates and shut the majority of Kentucky down. While this may have been a challenge, this allowed Kentucky to become a leader among other southern states combating COVID-19. This executive order displeased many Kentuckians, but it ended up helping to “flatten the curve” and thus allowed Kentucky to open back up. Because of Beshear, we were able to have a fairly normal summer. Now that school is back in session, schools have become a petri dish for disease. The mask mandate needed to be extended, as many will agree that children are not very health conscious. If you’ve been in a kindergarten classroom, you’ll know that kids can be gross. They’ll put their mouths on things, sneeze and cough without covering their mouths, share unsanitized toys, and a plethora of other things that make these children susceptible to disease, more specifically to the COVID-19 virus. If our kids get this virus, they will then transfer it to their parents and immediate family, who will then transfer it to their co-workers and friends. It’s a never-ending cycle that will keep going unless we do something about it.
Many Kentuckians share the same mindset: since we went through the mandates and lockdown once, we won’t have to do it again. Sadly, this is far from the truth. As much as we all want things to go back to normal, that won’t happen until the majority of adults step up and be responsible for the health of themselves and others. When the pandemic was fresh, Kentuckians praised Beshear for how well he was handling the pandemic. Now, since he’s tried to implement masks again, he’s seen as the villain in the story. While the Kentucky Supreme Court had every right to rule against Beshear’s mask mandate, many feel they just did it to rein Beshear in and silence the protests. Since masks are such a contentious issue, it’s no wonder the Kentucky Supreme Court would try to silence Beshear and his policies, but Beshear is only doing what is right for Kentucky. If we want to get through this pandemic, we have to be smart and listen to those who are only trying to protect us. This includes the CDC and Gov. Beshear.
By far the hardest question to answer lately is “what can we do to stop the pandemic?” There are many answers. We could wear masks, get vaccines, go into lockdown again, the list just goes on and on. At the end of the day, we all need to accept that this won’t go away unless we begin to think smarter and as a unit. First, funding more incentives to get vaccines to people would help. While vaccines may be available at Walmart and other pharmacies now, many people are still scared about what the vaccine will do to them. Will it make them sick? If the government simply found a way to get this information out in a more widespread manner instead of just the internet, maybe people would start going to get the vaccines. Also, instead of spreading false information, begin promoting factual information about the vaccines. No, the vaccines don’t microchip you. First, you need to understand that the higher the gauge is, the smaller the diameter of the needle is. According to PetMD, microchip needles used to microchip pets are approximately 12-15 gauges, which is about the size of an ink cartridge in your average ballpoint pen. Needles used for vaccinations, however, are only about 25 gauges, the size of a small cross stitch needle. Microchips are also the size of a large grain of rice. If you were getting microchipped, you would know. No, vaccines themselves don’t give you COVID. According to the CDC, the vaccines themselves don’t use a live strain of the virus. They instead use mRNA, which gives our cells a harmless piece of the virus, called a “spike protein” which allows our immune system to make antibodies against the virus. This allows our bodies to safely handle the virus if we do get it. Mandating vaccines, while not possible by the federal government, is able to be done by corporations. Some corporations that have implemented mandatory vaccinations include Google, Microsoft and Walmart. This is not just for the safety of the employees, but for the safety of customers. Wearing masks also lessens the spread of the virus. I know they may be a hindrance, but wearing your mask inside for a few hours will not hurt you. While there may be no right first step, there are ways to get us going on the right path. All we need to do is be smart, be kind, wear our masks and get vaccinated.
