COVID-19 is still our reality

Everyday people are mentally struggling because they’re having to worry about wearing a mask in public, maintaining social distancing and trying to avoid COVID-19.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, 40.9% of respondents in a digital survey reported having a harmful mental health condition due to COVID-19. Also, the CDC discovered that the percentage of recipients who considered suicide due to the pandemic were especially high in people ages 18 to 24.

This doesn’t mean that we should just forget about COVID-19 and go party with our friends to finally have fun. As a college freshman at Coastal Carolina University, I would love to go out, meet new people, and not worry about taking COVID-19 precautions; however, I am not going to do that because it would be selfish and irresponsible. If you choose to go out and party with your friends, you may think it’s no big deal to not wear a mask or that there is no social distancing being enforced, but you would feel awful if you and fellow peers got sick and were forced to go back home from campus due to an increase in COVID-19 cases.

The Chanticleer reached out to several students for comments, however, there was no response. Students, however, did respond to a poll. The results showed that 55.9% of the 34 students that participated reported that they cared if their fellow students were partying and/or going out without taking COVID-19 precautions. Also, 38.2% reported that they would care a little bit about CCU students partying without taking COVID-19 precautions.

We, as CCU students, should respect our fellow Chanticleers by not putting their health and happiness in jeopardy. It is important to remember that we are all struggling from this pandemic in different ways; therefore, we are not alone in this mess. We need to stick together and stay safe so our beloved campus can stay open and return to our normal learning environment.

Having fun while still taking COVID-19 precautions will be worth it when we can eventually go places without wearing a mask and attend classes in-person without fearing for our health.

It’s easy to pretend we aren’t in a pandemic anymore and to do whatever we please; however, that is not our reality. Our reality is that over 200,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 in the United States. According to the New York Times, 3,552 of those deaths were in South Carolina. As of Oct. 9, 2020, 205 of those deaths were in Horry County. Our reality is that 315 positive cases are at CCU, including nine new cases from the first week of October. Our reality is that COVID-19 is here, and we need to acknowledge that.