UNK has been taking several precautions to ensure the safety of its students and faculty. These regulations are set to ensure we have a (mostly) on-campus semester, but there remains one glaring issue: Kearney High activities on college grounds.
After returning from quarantine, students here on campus have been met with seating restrictions, mask policies, and building reassignments.
These new changes are to help students and faculty from contracting COVID-19 for as long as possible before our shift to online classes (presumably after Thanksgiving break). So far, the practices have been effective, but one factor could threaten all of this.
Very frequently have I observed the Kearney High School band performing on UNK’s campus grounds. At the end of every week, they gather together and practice near Thomas hall or the Health and Sports Center. However, as I am sure many would guess, it is impossible to play an instrument with a mask on. Why is it that the KHS kids are exempt from wearing a mask (even when not playing) while UNK students must wear theirs at all times?
Of course, this issue only gets worse with the report of a positive COVID-19 case amongst the Kearney High football team. Allowing KHS students on campus could be potentially jeopardizing—especially while not wearing proper protective wear. All it takes is one positive case, and we have the potential of shutting down campus once again, forcing teachers and students to (once again) make a hard, sudden transition back to online courses.
What could be some possible solutions to this? To start, KHS could practice band on their own grounds, especially their recently-constructed football field. If that is not an option, perhaps stricter guidelines for on-campus activities would be more appropriate. The end goal here is to avoid getting as many people sick as possible, and this outside factor is too dangerous to ignore.
With cases spiking once more both around the world and here in town, we as students have to be ever-vigilant to stay safe from COVID-19 in this new era of learning. Any potentially avoidable risk or precaution should be met with an open mind. Regardless of your political stance on masks or COVID-19 itself, we have to be courteous and follow the rules UNK has set in place. From what I have seen, we as a student body have been adhering to every guideline required of us. So I ask once again: why are KHS kids exempt from the rules that we UNK students must follow with the utmost severity?
