We’ve missed a lot of things during this pandemic. Movie releases have been postponed and canceled. Holidays that are usually large scale celebrations became smaller family events. 

    Friends that you would normally see every day at school are now only reachable virtually. And one of the biggest school events every year – Homecoming – came and went without any of the normal buzz. 

     Of course, people are dying to get back to normalcy. Humans are social creatures; we have an innate need to be around each other. And for some of us, this is our senior year, the year that’s supposed to be the highlight of our high school career. 

     It was only a matter of time before large parties started popping up, even though one of the key rules of quarantine is that you shouldn’t be gathering in large groups. 

    But we all wore masks! We were outside! It was just one time, and no one there had Covid symptoms!

Really?

 No one took off their mask at this party? At all? Not even to eat or drink? You were outside, but you all stayed six feet apart?

     Just because no one there had symptoms doesn’t mean that no one there had Covid. And you have no way of telling whether or not they had picked it up – unless you’re testing everyone before you let them in. 

     The thing is, there’s no way of being truly safe because we can’t know where everyone has been. 

    Say one person at this party’s mother went to the grocery store this week. At the grocery store, there was one woman who refused to wear a mask. This person’s mother had to walk within six feet of this person to get down an aisle. Unknowingly, this person’s mother could have contracted Covid and carried it home. And now this person is at a party. 

     Now is not the time for parties. The number’s aren’t low right now, and yes, quarantine sucks and has been going on for way too long, but global (emphasis on the global, you know, the whole globe, everyone on the planet, even including you) pandemics take time and effort from everyone to get past. The only way we can get back to normal is if we buckle down and work through the hard parts.

   That means following the rules. All of them. It’s the greater good, people. 

     And once this pandemic is finally over, it’ll be even more fun to celebrate.