Dealing with COVID-19 this year has been challenging to say the least, especially for students with summer jobs or even year-round jobs.
I work at a public pool in my hometown of Myrtle Creek every summer and was hired as the manager before the rise of COVID-19, but I wasn’t sure if the pool could even be open this year until early June. I wanted the pool to be open not only so my staff and I could have jobs this summer, but also so the community could have a safe place to swim with staffed lifeguards. This is because there is a correlation in my area that when the pool is closed, more people drown in the nearby rivers.
In order to open the pool, I had to spend three weeks reading state, federal, and organizational guidelines and regulations, participating in multiple teleconferences, and developing my facility’s policies on top of the normal responsibilities of reopening a seasonal pool.
As someone who had to develop and enforce COVID-19 policies, I empathize with the workers on campus and service workers in general that have to deal with a public that can’t seem to follow directions. In my case, the continued operation of the pool was dependent on COVID-19 cases remaining low and I am sure it is the same for other sectors of the service industry.
Cases stay low by people following directions designed to limit the spread of COVID-19. For example, wearing a mask indoors or in public spaces when social distancing as much as possible are guidelines meant to stop the transmission of COVID-19.
This is all to say that it really grinds my gears when I see people on campus not following these simple instructions. Take the time to read the signs posted everywhere, don’t take unnecessary risks, and, for the love of God, put the mask over your nose because I’m pretty sure none of us want to go back into lockdown. — Sebastian Herr
Photo: Wearing a mask indoors or in public spaces when social distancing as much as possible are guidelines meant to stop the transmission of COVID-19 (Sebastian Herr)
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