At the beginning of the month, Nevada handed COVID-19 mitigation measures to county jurisdictions, and as KUNR Youth Media reporter Wesley Kaopio argues, the restrictions are confusing. He shares his thoughts in this commentary.
It seems like for a while now, we, as a whole, don’t really know how to handle the pandemic as of late. The rules can be different everywhere, and [they] can get confusing after a while. Not to mention [the] fluctuations between the rules and our situation over time.
Schools have had to switch between hybrid and all distance learning quite a few times. Businesses seem to go between full capacity and limited capacity sporadically. And it all can really get muddled down after a while. It definitely doesn’t get any less confusing when you look at countywide or statewide regulations either.
Every area can seem like they have different rules and things you need to follow. And that, on top of everything else I said, is chaotic to deal with; however, no matter how confusing our situation gets, I feel that all of this is necessary, sadly. The different rules will be able to help more affected areas more easily, and it will no doubt help improve our nationwide status. The continued rules and regulations make it so we don’t rush out of the situation because the last thing we want is to open up too quickly and have more cases pop up. I want to get out of this pandemic, not fall back into it.
Wesley Kaopio is a junior at Earl Wooster High School in Reno. KUNR’s Youth Media program partners with the Washoe County School District to train the next generation of journalists.