Due to the recent rise of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, the health and safety of the students and faculty of the San Mateo Union High School District are in jeopardy, and thus poses the question, is in-person school really worth risking the health and safety of students, when there is a viable solution of distance learning. For some, it may not only be dangerous for themselves, but for the people surrounding them in households across San Mateo County. Although it is known that we must come to terms living with COVID-19, it is not worth risking the lives of people across San Mateo county to attend in-person school, when the perfectly viable option of online school is at our disposal. In the first few days, 167 positive cases were reported in the SMUHSD, which should be a clear indicator that the safety of staff and students is sacrificed in order to continue face-to-face learning. As COVID-19 cases increase, the amount of class time missed will leave some with unfair disadvantages to their own education. It would be beneficial to keep everybody on the same page which online learning instates. Rerouting our learning to online circumstances would be favorable for most in order to keep the safety of all intact.

When school was closed on March 13th, 2020, 1700 cases were reported in the United States. Now, while we are attending school, 10% of that number was found in our single (SMUHSD) school district. This is worrying for parents, students, and all alike. Widening the lens to California, UCLA, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCSD, UCSB, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Riverside, have all decided to move to an online structure (all being local to California, and accredited as universities).

Staying exposed to COVID-19 through in-person school at this time, seems illogical, as health and safety should always come first, and thus proposing a solution of distance online learning.