The First Round of Coronavirus Vaccines Have Rolled Out

On December 14, the first US citizens were vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine against the Coronavirus. This country still has a long road ahead, but finally we have a proven and effective weapon to combat the Coronavirus. I’m sure you’ve all heard by now from news casters all over the US that “We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.” Unfortunately, the demand for this vaccine far exceeds the current production capabilities.

University students like you and me won’t receive this vaccine until the end of the spring semester at the earliest. We have to accept the reality that life won’t go back to normal when the clocks strike midnight on New Years Eve. It’s important, now more than in the spring of 2020, or this past summer, or this past fall, that we wear masks, social distance, and follow all the other protocols our state and local leaders give us. However, it’s unrealistic to expect us college students who choose to live on campus to isolate and never see our friends in the other residential halls or apartments. What should be expected of us is that we don’t choose to drive home for the weekend and then come back to campus, we shouldn’t gather for large off-campus house parties, we shouldn’t invite off-campus friends to spend the night with us at our dorm, and we should be expected to wear masks when walking around public spaces on campus, whether we’re taking a walk around the quad or getting food from the Commons.

I recently completed the Coronavirus training modules that the university had us do and I have to say that most of the stuff they ask from us is pretty fair. The only thing that I think will be hard to follow is the three close contacts rule. I understand that number was reached out of extreme caution so a single case of coronavirus hopefully doesn’t spread like wildfire, but I just wonder how much of a difference say, five people, would be to three people. Regardless, we have to create a bubble at the University of Redlands. By staying on campus, we can preserve a small sense of normality for the spring semester. If we all limit our exposure to off-campus people, then we can still celebrate sloppy (but responsible) 21st Birthdays together, we can still play video games with friends in our dorm rooms, we can still have late-night group study sessions the night before an exam, and we can still do most of the things that make the University of Redlands campus life special. The vaccines are here, but it will still be some time until we get it, so for the sake of not only the health of our families, friends, and U of R faculty, but also ourselves, we need to be more diligent than ever in following health and safety guidelines.