Shilpa Giri
For most of the summer, I stayed on campus as a part of my job. Due to most of campus staying empty throughout those summer months, with the few folks on campus wearing masks and social distancing, I had begun to hope that this level of precaution on our campus would allow us to enjoy a full academic year, keeping NC State relatively free of COVID-19. However, once students started moving back on campus, I fear my hopes were extremely naive, and our students are still unable to grasp the severity of this pandemic.
Within the span of one short walk to Talley and back to my residence hall, I noticed multiple groups of students playing frisbee on the lawn in front of Witherspoon Student Center, huddling together and under the trees, playing volleyball on the Tucker/Owen Beach and inviting numerous friends to their rooms. And before you lash out. No. They were not wearing masks. They were not social distancing. And I highly doubt they washed or sanitized their hands before or after group hugging their friends.
I don’t want to be a buzzkill. I am a very physical person, and hugging my friends has always been my love language. But y’all, we’re in the middle of a global pandemic that has infected 20,445,252 people worldwide and resulted in 745,229 global deaths. The United States has consistently been the worldwide leader in COVID-19 cases since March 26, with more than 50,000 new cases per day.
Students have had many precious things taken from us because of this pandemic. We have been denied in-person education, some have been denied their graduation ceremonies, some have been denied a proper start to their college experience. Some of us have lost internships, some of us have faced homelessness or were forced to go back to abusive households, some of us are facing financial issues, some of us have lost jobs, some of us have lost loved ones, some of us live in daily fear of losing a loved one. This pandemic is not something to be taken lightly, and I don’t know how much we all have to suffer before we all understand the gravity of the situation.
We are supposedly a group of the smartest young scholars from North Carolina, the United States and the world. And yet, we aren’t even fully done with move-in and this is the situation on campus. Every day, my friends and I keep fake betting on how long it will be before campus shuts down again and we are sent home. And sadly, everyday, that date gets pushed forward to an earlier one.
It’s not too hard to do your part to protect the pack. The University is doing so much to help us, with arrows on the floor telling us where to go, increased sanitizer stations, a mix of online and hybrid classes, increased frequency in the cleaning of public spaces, contactless ordering of food, amongst many others. All youneed to do is wear a mask when you’re around people, even your friends, and maintain physical distancing.
Nothing in this column is news to you. You have heard all of this before. You’ve read all of this before. And just like you, I am tired of reading, hearing and writing about COVID-19. We at NC State are better than this, and it is not too late to start making amends, so I implore all of you to step up and do your part.