COVID-19 cases are skyrocketing. A few months ago 100 cases in our county per day was high. Now we're practically flying by 1,000. They are several times higher now than they ever were last year, when we were all learning at home to help prevent transmission. Yet, there is not even such an option now.

Vaccines help prevent hospitalization, but don't help that much in the way of infection. Plus, there's always the risk of long-COVID, a condition that, although still very much being researched, seems almost frighteningly common among those who have had COVID.

Even if you didn't before, you probably now know multiple people who have/had COVID. You may have even gotten it yourself.

With cases this high, are you really excited to go back to school and spend 7 hours a day sharing air and germs with other students? What  ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶  could you even do if the student next to you started coughing? The county says that social distancing and mask wearing will be enforced. Let me ask you: In how many classes are you constantly six feet from other students? I can tell you that for me, it's none of them. In most of my classes, the classroom doesn't even have the physical area to make it possible at all.

This is not even to mention students who don't wear their mask properly (by the way, most fabric masks have filtering efficiencies of only around 30%) or lunch. Seriously, lunch! For all the talk about social distancing and mask wearing, you know what has been changed about lunch? Nothing! We are still packed into the cafeteria, hundreds of students at a time, sitting side by side, with no masks, for half an hour. Given the transmissibility of Omicron, if the kid at your table during lunch has COVID, there is a very high chance you have it too.

While contact tracing and test-to-stay are great and all, they are reactionary measures, not proactive ones. For all the students who may not want to contract COVID or have vulnerable loved ones they wish to protect, we ask that Loudoun County Public Schools please consider creating an virtual learning option for the safety and well-being of them and their families during at least the next few weeks, when case numbers will no doubt be the highest they have ever been. We understand that some students may prefer in-person education, which is why we only ask that the students who wish to stay home be given the option to decide for themselves.

Note for students: Please consider sharing this petition with your parents