The United States is currently experiencing its worst COVID-19 outbreak since the start of the pandemic. 

With in-person classes continuing, the Omicron variant is beginning to make its way into schools in Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD). COVID-19 threatens to cause a surge in hospitalizations and potentially even deaths, especially to the immunocompromised and unvaccinated.

I witnessed this surge firsthand as I heard more and more of my friends test positive for the virus. I do not want to live through the day when I hear that one of those friends gets hospitalized. I'd be broken knowing that it's very likely that if they were not on campus, their chances of contracting the virus would've been much, much lower, and as such they would not have been hospitalized.

The best and most effective way to contain the spread of the virus in our community is to transition to a distance learning system. The transition would be temporary as we wait for the nation to contain the virus to reasonable levels.

We all have our roles to play in combatting this surge. EGUSD's role to protect our community is to transition back into online learning. This decision is not a comfortable one to make. But for the sake of public health, EGUSD must transition to distance learning temporarily.