OPINION: COVID-19 rules, regulations and requirements
We asked our opinion writers about their thoughts on COVID-19 requirements, mandates, vaccine education and other restrictions. Contributing are Bryce Hoehn, a senior political science major, Aya Cathey, a freshman journalism major, and Charlotte Caldwell, a junior journalism major.
Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.
Do you think Ohio U will require students to be vaccinated for COVID-19 in the future? Should more universities require it?
Bryce: I have not seen any indication that vaccines will be required yet, but I hope they are by fall semester. Now that the vaccines are widely available and students are eligible, I would love to see every university require it so that we can smoothly return to normal as soon as possible. I would be frustrated to see Ohio U or any university continue to have COVID-19 guidelines in place because students are refusing to get vaccinated. Personally, I am completely burnt out from online classes and the lack of socialization over the past year. Requiring vaccines before returning in the fall would allow us to do more things in-person again without risking further outbreaks. We already require vaccinations before enrolling in Ohio U for various other diseases, so I don’t see why COVID-19 should be treated any differently.
Aya: I do not think Ohio U will require students to be vaccinated for COVID-19 this upcoming fall semester, but possibly in the following spring or fall semesters. I have read online, however, that some medical researchers believe the vaccine may only be effective for up to a year, so we may all have to get vaccinated again within the next one-and-a-half to two years. In that case, I believe Ohio U and other universities should require it to avoid another rise in cases or a potential lockdown.
Charlotte: More colleges have confirmed that they will be requiring all students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for fall semester, but it seems like Ohio U will take Cleveland State University’s lead and only require vaccines for all students living on campus as they have done with other vaccines. No decision has been made yet, but President Duane Nellis said the administration is looking into all of the steps surrounding requiring the vaccine. If they decide to require it in the fall, they will do it in true Ohio U fashion and tell students closer to when they return to campus. More universities should consider it and at least implement it for students living on campus, especially if they are planning on sticking more than two students in a dorm room.
What do you think about requiring proof of vaccination for traveling and other events?
Bryce: I support the idea, but I feel like development has begun far too late for the technology to make an impact. If development had begun last year when the pandemic first began and started rolling out around the same time as vaccinations, I think it could have been successful. At this point, however, almost a quarter of the U.S. population has already been vaccinated, and some states have already fully reopened, all while the vaccine passport is still just an idea. The government is in a bit of a catch-22 where for a vaccine passport to be successful, it will need to be extremely intuitive and reliable. To do this will take more time to develop, by which point most of the population will have already moved on. On the other hand, if the passport is rushed and clunky, people won’t adapt to it either and it would likely just fuel more conspiracy theories about the virus. Most businesses probably won’t care enough to enforce it unless there are strict regulations requiring it as they have a profit motive to serve as many customers as possible regardless of disease spread, especially now that the more vulnerable populations have been vaccinated.
All of that said, I do fully support the idea and hope it is successful. I find the recent announcement by White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients that the passport should be “simple, free, open source, accessible to people both digitally and on paper and designed from the start to protect people’s privacy” to be promising. Overall, I hope vaccine passports are available soon and live up to Zients’ standards. I also hope regulations are enacted to make sure businesses actually use them.
Aya: There has been much speculation around the effectiveness of COVID-19 apps. While the technology can be challenging to develop in such a short time period, I believe it is possible. This year, Hung Ma created the app TurboVax, which finds appointments from government-run vaccine sites in New York City. He launched it less than two weeks after starting development, and it has helped thousands of people get vaccinated. If done carefully, an online vaccine passport app could be very efficient. I envision something similar to online banking apps where you can deposit checks by sending in a photo of the actual paper — we could do the same with vaccine cards. The app should not screen for anything else, just for safety purposes, but it could have a positive impact on the travel industry.
Charlotte: Similar to requiring vaccinations in schools, requiring certain vaccines to travel is not a new phenomenon for some countries. Yellow fever and polio are two diseases that some countries require vaccinations for to be able to travel to already, so it would make sense to include COVID-19 in this list of illnesses that no one wants to make a comeback. Businesses and events requiring vaccination probably will not be a state mandate, as it has been hard enough getting people to abide by the mask mandate. But similar to how the mask mandate works, private businesses will probably be able to choose whether they want to require someone to be vaccinated to enter, even after states have eased restrictions.
Do you think there’s been a sufficient push to educate people about vaccines?
Bryce: I would say that there has not. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health organizations have put out plenty of information regarding the vaccines, it is still nothing close to the amount of disinformation spread on social media. Through a simple Google search, an uninformed person can easily find dozens of articles proving that the vaccines are safe and effective, but none of that matters if a person intentionally ignores all of it in favor of something they read on Facebook.
Through the pandemic, I have noticed plenty of ads on television, radio and even on the sides of trash cans Uptown encouraging people to wear a mask to prevent infection, but I have seen nearly nothing encouraging people to get vaccinated or informing them on how. I was eligible for the vaccine in February according to Ohio’s guidelines, but it took calls to multiple health departments and pharmacies before I was finally able to find an open appointment. Fortunately, Ohio has since created the website gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov, which seems to be much more user friendly, but it could use some more advertising.
Aya: There has not. Scientific journals are not always accessible to the public, especially those of low-income communities. Nowadays, if researchers want to share important information with large audiences, they have to do it over social media or in-person events. The most important groups to reach out to right now are marginalized people of color, especially Black people, who are afraid of the vaccine because of the decades of medical abuse and experiments on Black bodies in the United States. All COVID-19 information should be easy to access, comprehend and critique. The public needs to be updated and informed regularly, and those with concerns and questions deserve a place to receive reliable answers.
Charlotte: President Joe Biden announced in February that his administration was planning on putting together an effort to educate people about vaccines. At the beginning of this month, they actually went through with it when Vice President Kamala Harris met with the members of the “Community Corps,” which is 275 grassroots groups working to combat vaccine hesitancy and dispel misinformation. It might be too late to sway some people’s minds with the amount of misinformation that has been circulating for months, but at least the Biden administration promised something and followed through with it. Part of helping the U.S. get back on track after the pandemic should involve federal officials staying consistent with the information they announce to the public.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said recently in a news conference that there will no longer be occupancy limits on outdoor events, and he said previously that the mask mandate will be dropped once Ohio reaches 50 cases per 100,000 people over a two-week period. What do you think about restrictions like these being lifted?
Bryce: Now that vaccines are finally widely available to the general public, I am starting to support winding down on COVID-19 guidelines. This seems a bit too early, however, as vaccines have only been officially available for the entire adult population for about a week prior to this order, and in many cities, there was still a shortage of vaccines available at the time. While both of the two shot vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, still provide significant protection after the first shot, it still takes about two weeks for immunity to kick in. I am all for reopening after everyone has had the chance to get vaccinated, but I think this order is about a month too early.
Aya: At first, I was nervous to hear that restrictions were lifted, both in my hometown and Ohio. I live in Texas, and the state government lifted COVID-19 restrictions on March 2. However, businesses and private establishments continued to exercise their right to enforce masks, so I still felt relatively safe in public indoor spaces. Personally, I just went to a public park for the first time and did not wear a mask the entire time. I was happy to see people were still socially distanced and using wipes and sanitizer. At this point in the pandemic, those who want to stay safe and protect public health have made themselves known. There is not much we can do now except continue to encourage people to minimize social contact, get tested and, most importantly, get vaccinated.
Charlotte: I agree with lifting most of the restrictions at this point, but I think it should be done gradually, rather than all at once like Texas. I have agreed with many of DeWine’s decisions since the beginning of the pandemic, and he is still making better decisions now than some other Republican governors. He needs to continue to stand firm on his mandates and not get lenient about people not following the rules. The mask mandate should be one of the last to go, and it looks like it’s going to be in Ohio since the state is nowhere near the goal of 50 cases per 100,000 people.