On March 7th, 2022, a day that so many Middletown South students along with myself have been waiting for will finally arrive. Students will now be allowed to remove their masks. Nearly two years after Middletown High School South and schools around the country closed for the global pandemic Covid-19 in March of 2020, we students will now have some more normalcy once again. Middletown South let students not wear masks at the end of the 2020-2021 school year but that was when the school was at a limited capacity. Now, with nearly everyone back at school, students will be able to really see each other once again.

In my opinion, this removal of masks could not have come at a better time. Although I would have liked the masks to be removed months and months ago, it is a great time to do so now due to the weather warming up and everyone vaccinated who wanted to be. This is something that we students can be excited about and look forward to when coming to school.

Personally, the biggest reason I’m excited about the mandate being lifted is that we can really get a breath of fresh air, both literally and figuratively. For me, it is very hard to focus at times with a mask on, and now I’ll finally be able to breathe and feel more normal than I have in years at school.

This mask removal decision is going to be very controversial to many and possibly divide parts of the student body, but one thing that all students can agree on is that nobody likes to have a mask on their face all day every day. Yes, some may be uncomfortable with just taking the mask off, but no matter how you feel, hopefully this is a signal that the virus is slowing down and the world is returning to normal again. I think many of us are excited for this change.