When my parents got an email from University Prep saying they were planning to have students return on campus in smaller cohorts, we sat down to talk about our options. We decided that my brother and I should return in person. While returning to school is a risk, we decided that it is a risk worth taking. Obviously, this is not the case for everyone. 

UPrep needs to create stricter guidelines to ensure the safety of everyone on campus.  Our school has implemented many new COVID-19 safety precautions, and while all of those precautions are steps in the right direction, mandatory COVID-19 testing would reduce the likelihood of sick students and staff showing up to school. 

According to University of Colorado Health, 25% of teens, aged 14 to 20, who test positive for COVID-19 are asymptomatic. Temperature checks and questionnaires are good resources to use to detect COVID-19 symptoms, but testing is the only real way to detect asymptomatic cases.

UPrep needs to mandate and provide COVID-19 tests for anyone returning to school. Schools such as Lakeside and the French American School of Puget Sound have been testing their students and employees weekly on campus. 

While I understand it might not be easy to provide testing for everyone, it would be a good investment to keep the school better informed of students’ health. Mandatory COVID-19 tests could also help at home students and their families feel more comfortable returning to school.

While my family decided having my brother and I return to school is a risk we are willing to take; it is important to note that we are all healthy and do not regularly see any high-risk individuals. Returning to campus is an opportunity for me to see my friends more regularly, play a sport and learn in an environment I am more accustomed to. Many other families are in different places with returning in person and are not able to take the same risk.

We are lucky enough to attend a school with the resources to not only have a well functioning online learning environment, but also allow us to return in person. It is because of the resources available to us that we need to be as strict as we can with COVID-19 precautions, including mandatory testing.