As the covid 19 variant continues to impact our lives. Douglas College has told students that in person learning will be restarting January 10. The omicron variant is highly contagious therefore causing students to feel unsafe. Students are concerned of potentially contracting the variant at the university as most classes are small, and contact with other students are close, meaning there is no room for students to social distance while learning.
Other universities such as SFU, UBC, UVIC, have prioritized the safety of students and staff by extended online learning.
Douglas should prioritize our safety just as other universities have.
Student learning will be highly impacted by being in person. Those who will be infected will be forced to miss class; distance learning allows students who contract covid to continue learning.
Douglas class rooms sizes are small and do not allow for students to safely distance themselves 6-ft away from other students and are not protected with plexiglass.

Many students like myself live with at-risk family and cannot afford to get sick and miss work. It is the benefit of everyone that we limit in person contact until it is safe. For heavily lab based programs like nursing, having in person clinicals would be safer with the majority of students who do not need to be in school, be online. Douglas make the right choice.