After almost two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mask mandate at NC State was bound to be lifted at some point.
As of March 7, everyone can now make the conscious decision to either wear or not wear a mask in NC State classes. But we shouldn’t judge others for wanting to continue wearing masks, just like we shouldn’t judge those that choose to not wear one anymore.
To those that choose to not wear one anymore, I highly suggest getting vaccinated or boosted (if eligible) if you haven’t already.
The CDC has said time and time again that getting vaccinated lowers the risk of contracting the disease and lowers the risk of spreading it to others. Even if you already had COVID-19, they advise you to get vaccinated to get extra protection because it’s safer than just simply being immune to the virus since you already had it.
Vaccines have been around and available to the general public since April 2021. The vaccine has been administered all across the country, and 64.86% of the U.S population is fully vaccinated. North Carolina itself has 61% of the population fully vaccinated.
Tons of research has shown the vaccine is safe and effective, so if you want to not wear a mask anymore, go get vaccinated!
One thing to keep in mind is that NC State isn’t saying that you can’t wear a mask anymore. Anyone can still choose to wear one anywhere they go if they choose to. They just aren’t enforcing it anymore. That may scare some people, but I want those people to keep in mind NC State’s COVID-19 data.
NC State’s vaccination rate is at 86%, as of February 2022. Furthermore, since the spring semester has started there have only been 4674 new cases which are only 11% of all of the total cases on campus. The overall cases since February have been going down steadily, and I hope with this new mask mandate that they continue to stay this way.
However, I can’t speak for how these numbers will look even though the mask mandate is lifted, because this database has lacked efficiency even before this new mandate. But there’s never going to be a time where there are going to be no cases, so as time goes on we need to just be aware of that.
Personally, I’m going to continue wearing my mask until after spring break, just to see how things play out. Wearing one never bothered me and I have high-risk family members so I want to continue being cautious for the time being so I don’t end up getting them sick. That’s my choice though — and if others don’t want to wear one anymore, then that’s a choice they can make that has nothing to do with me.
At the end of the day, people are going to do what they want to do. However, I still highly encourage people to continue wearing masks if they know people that are at a higher risk, or if they are sick themselves with COVID-19 or any other contagious disease.
COVID-19 is here to stay, unfortunately, and it’s just become one of those diseases like the flu that we have to look out for. Coronavirus has even been compared to diseases like the Spanish flu because they’re both notoriously known as deadly pandemics that we as a world have had to face. No matter whether you keep wearing a mask or not, I highly advise everyone to continue being safe and be courteous to those around them.
