BRONX TIMES REPORTER,BTR DECEMBER 4-10, 2020 13
letters & comments
BY MIGUEL CLEMENTE RODGIGUEZ,
FRESHMAN, ROCHESTER INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY (RIT)
Since January 2020, the
United States has been engaged
in an ongoing fi ght against one
of the world’s deadliest pandemics,
the COVID-19 virus (coronavirus).
COVID-19 has proven
to affect everyone in the United
States: young, old, Black, white,
Latino, poor and rich people
alike. According to The New
York Times, there are a total
of 8 million reported cases and
a death toll of over 217,000 people.
As the world is working to
fi nd a cure for this virus, time
doesn’t stop for the people. As a
freshman student at R.I.T., for
the fi rst time, I am enjoying the
sense of independence, freedom
and taking care of my responsibilities.
With independence
and freedom comes a great deal
of responsibility. A demonstration
of this responsibility is
applicable in answering the
question of whether we should
self-police ourselves in a midst
of a pandemic. In reaching a
conclusion, one may consider,
among others factors: upbringing;
statistics, peer pressure and
political infl uence.
It’s easier to police yourself
from the elements you are familiar
with as part of your development
and growth. My parents
taught me how to cross the
street, stay away from strangers
and to respect my elders. My
parents did their best to prepare
me for adulthood; always stressing
the many ways of staying
healthy and our religious teachings
of paying respect to the
value of human life. We even
roleplayed to get me thinking
about various situations I may
encounter so I can self-police myself.
Unfortunately, and not surprisingly,
COVID-19 is not one of
those factors my parents taught
me to police myself against. How
I deal with COVID-19 is embedded
in me and is an opportunity
to show my parents the results
of their upbringing and that I
can take care of myself; always
knowing my parents are there if
I need their help.
My interest is math and I
value statistics and what our experts
report. It has been about
eight months since the virus
started to spread, the situation
is still critical and there appears
to be no signs of the spread of the
virus declining. The New York
Times has a graph that has been
keeping track of the coronavirus
and although we aren’t at a peak,
the numbers are still rising. Because
of this virus, thousands of
businesses had to shut down, and
hundreds of thousands of people
have lost their jobs. Everyone
still needs to work and make
money, so we all need to take
precautions against this virus.
While we are trying to return
to a normal life as possible, we
cannot ignore the statistics and
the advice of the experts. The reports
indicate that we must continue
to follow COVID-19 protocols
to prevent catching and
spreading the virus.
Under normal circumstances,
I am in favor of students
policing themselves according
to the policies. However, because
of the nature of COVID-19,
students should not be responsible
for policing themselves. It is
very diffi cult for students to police
themselves because at their
age, especially in college, and
the temptation to let their guard
down is high. Another concern
is the risk of students not reporting
other students because
of peer pressure and not wanting
to “snitch.” The situation is
critical and is a matter of survival
that requires the help of all
that are available to ensure the
proper protocols are followed to
keep everyone safe.
College is the fi rst experience
for many to go away to school. A
lot of students take this opportunity
to live their best lives since
they don’t have to worry about
their parents. Students often go
to parties to have fun and enjoy
the company of many other students.
Normally, this is problematic
because of the use of alcohol
and drugs. Under the current
situation, the mere possibility
of lots of students being close to
each other is where the problem
arises. Because the virus is believed
to not harm younger people,
students often take the risk
to lower their guard and participate
in social gatherings by
breaking the protocol to wear a
mask and social distance. Students
feel so comfortable with
each other, that they don’t follow
precautions. Due to the severity
of the situation, we cannot
afford to even consider the possibility
of students overlooking
these mistakes.
The concept of “snitching”
is something like a taboo for
younger people. We are united
because we are young in a
“war” against older people because
they are perceived to act
all “high and mighty.” The urge
to resist this temptation has
caused many problems. In the
past, problems occur on other
college campuses when students
refuse to snitch on one another
which negatively affects
hazing practices and sexual violence
cases (Levy 2). Similarly,
we have already seen this happen
when contact tracing the
current pandemic. According
to Levy and Kilgour, local offi -
cials have had to resort to subpoenas
just to get infected patients
to submit to telling the
truth so they could contact trace
the coronavirus. (Levy 2) Some
people refuse to snitch because
it could threaten their safety.
Others have already been targeted
with possible harassment
and threats to avoid reporting
non-compliant business practices.
Giving the responsibility
of self-policing to the students
is too much to ask for,
as they would be put in a very
tough position.
Throughout our time fi ghting
COVID-19, we have struggled
tremendously. Our greatest
and most qualifi ed leaders have
guided us through this time.
If we haven’t ended the fi ght
against COVID-19 already, how
are young adults expected to
handle the situation better than
those who are wiser than we are?
Our leaders are giving us confl
icting news as to the severity
of the virus based on their political
interests. When our leaders
speak, most people listen and in
doing so, they let their guards
down and put themselves in
harm’s way. If our leaders cannot
speak with one voice, then I
cannot trust my fellow students
to police themselves. The President
of the United States is promoting
herd immunity. This occurs
when a major portion of a
community can no longer get
infected because they become
immune, making the spread of
COVID-19 unlikely. To do that,
you have to stop wearing a mask
and not care anymore of being
exposed to catching the virus.
If students listen to that and act
on it, then they present a clear
and present danger to me and
people I care about. According
to The Washington Post, this
strategy is “drawing concern
from experts inside and outside
the government who note that a
herd immunity strategy could
lead to hundreds of thousands,
if not millions, of lost American
lives” (Svrluga 1). This is not a
smart strategy for the world to
take. Until our national leader’s
voice clearly indicates the best
interest of us all, I must listen to
my inner self and adhere to the
side of caution.
Under the current circumstances,
we can’t afford to leave
all of our health in the hands of
the students. The students have
their studies to attend to, and
asking them to be responsible
for everyone else is too much.
This virus has been having a
permanent effect on more than
8 million people. If our nation
has many people in charge and
the situation has grown this severe,
how can we justify our student
body being responsible for
our entire campus? The best solution
is to work together to ensure
everyone follows the proper
protocols to stay safe.
Although I am against students
policing themselves, I
can see the logical perspective
behind that point of view. The
only group of people that would
know the “inside scoop” would
be other students. There is no
dean that would know what’s going
on among the student body,
other than the students themselves.
To have an inside eye
among the students reporting
the breaches in the protocol is a
great way to ensure all the students
are following the rules.
An alternative method could
be having campus police/security
be in charge of enforcing
the COVID-19 rules. This system
would be responsible for enforcing
social distancing, enforcing
the use of masks, and issuing
penalties for violations of these
rules. Possible penalties could
be fi nes for multiple offenses of
not using a mask. I believe fi nes
should be issued after two warnings.
The fi ne should be anywhere
from $50 to $100.
The world has suffered great
losses due to the coronavirus.
Everything that I have been
taught, the statistics, peer pressure
and the confl icting voices
from our national leaders, has
made me believe that students
shouldn’t be responsible for policing
themselves. The situation
is critical and is a matter of survival
that requires the help of
all available, including the enforcement
of fi nes, to ensure the
proper protocols are followed
to keep everyone safe. The lessons
from my upbringing to listen
to my elders can only go so
far as our leaders do not always
provide accurate information.
Too many of our neighbors and
loved ones have lost their lives.
If we were to ask those who lost
a loved one if they would favor
students self-policing themselves,
they would argue against
it because they know all too well
the potential consequences of
COVID-19. They would probably
advise us all not to take any
chances and to take the deepest
of care as COVID-19 is a killer!
Can students be
the COVID police
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
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