GREENSBORO, N.C. — It’s time for ‘My 2 Cents.’
We need to talk. I know some of y’all are going to get mad at me for this one – but we have been in this pandemic for 11 months now, we’ve known we need to wear a mask and stay out of big groups for about 10 of those months, yet throngs of people, not wearing masks are celebrating in streets and packed into bars.
I know your team just won the Super Bowl, it’s a big deal and y’all know I know how much fun it is to beat Duke – but that does not give you permission to conveniently forget about COVID-19 which we know spreads through droplets that come out when someone screams, or cheers, or yells or sings – especially without a mask on.
Is it fair that the year your team wins the Super Bowl in their home city we’re in a pandemic? Nope. Is it fair that your college experience is hindered because of this virus? Absolutely not. I am sorry. Truly.
But I do know that human lives are worth more than any sporting event or celebration. I’m not trying to scold those who participated – I know there’s no going back and changing things now - and sure, you can make the argument that they knew what they were doing, knew the risk involved, and can make their own decisions and WOW do I wish it were that simple. That’s now how this works. The people who were in that crowd in Tampa got on airplanes and flew home to different states possibly taking the virus with them. The students who were on Franklin Street went back to dorms or into dining halls and could spreading COVID around campus.
465,000 deaths and counting. Now is not the time to pretend this is over.