Dear editor,
I shouldn’t have to elaborate on how different the world is now due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When rapid testing became available to the public here at SUU, it should have been something that every student and faculty member ran to do. Unfortunately, I feel like few students are taking advantage of the free and rapid test here on campus.
If more members of the SUU community were to get tested, we would be able to identify more positive cases. This would be instrumental in slowing the spread because those that test positive would have to then quarantine for two weeks. I know things are always more complicated than they sound but it feels like not many are taking this pandemic seriously anymore, which is worrying considering that it is only getting worse.
I have received emails from the school with updated testing requirements, but those requirements seem to change every month. The latest I’ve heard is that every student taking at least one in-person class will be required to get tested in the first two weeks of this new semester. After that, it will be random. But how can that be enforced? What is going to happen to the large population of students that don’t get tested? Are there any real consequences for those that don’t do it? You hear every day how people “just want things to go back to normal,” yet some of those people don’t do their part in protecting the community.
If everyone were to voluntarily take 10 minutes of their time to go get tested, we would be that much closer to finally getting back tomorrow. I did it yesterday; it’s quick, easy, and painless. I see absolutely no excuse to not get tested.
Submitted by: Christian Esparza
Photo Courtesy of: SUU Marketing Communication
