The Story
COVID, like scrunchies and other 90’s trends, is making a comeback. And not the good classic underdog story, lifts your spirits, makes you believe in humanity kind of comeback.
Explain.
Pretty much every context is seeing a rise in COVID cases right now. The high school, the district, the town, the state. New Hampshire is still currently the state with the highest daily averages for cases per capita. Not exactly a title to be proud of.
What does the vaccine have to do with it?
Well, new NH DHHS data is showing that roughly 97% of people testing positive for COVID in the state are unvaccinated so that’s what some might call a bit of a correlation. But with only 65% of our population fully vaccinated, our cases have been skyrocketing. Additionally, New Hampshire’s lack of a vaccine or mask mandate are probably also contributing to the rise in cases.
On the bright side?
With the new FDA authorization for ages 5+ to get two Pfizer shots and 16+ to get boosters, it looks like about 93% of the NH population has received at least one shot. So maybe that will help?
What about Bedford?
As of Friday, there are currently 99 active cases in town, including 53 cases in the schools. Riddle Brook is looking dangerously close to an outbreak with 22 cases, and BHS has 7 of their own.
And the response?
Mr. Jozokos has started copying students on his emails about cases again. We’re not sure why he stopped doing that in the first place, but now we’re thinking that he’s including students again because he wants them to be aware of the spike and perhaps be more careful to prevent another mask mandate or even worse consequences.
The Runaway
Despite what we’d all love to believe, COVID is here to stay, at least for now. So, uh, keep doing the usual with masks, handwashing, and other precautions? We’re kind of out of ideas at this point.
What to Say…
When you thought the fly guy was done…
How bout a brief political snapshot of what’s cooking in Bedford? Last week, Former Vice President Mike Pence swung by Bedford during a trip to New Hampshire. Throughout his trip to the area, he declined to answer any questions regarding whether or not he had presidential aspirations for the 2024 election, despite NH’s status as an early primary state. He stopped by the Simply Delicious coffee shop next to Pizza Bella to discuss current political events around the country. We find this to be an unsurprising choice, as Simply Delicious is known for being ultra conservativeーthey got fined a few months ago for not enforcing the state-wide mask mandate. So in conclusion, if you’re interested in Mike Pence and getting COVID, check out Simply Delicious.
When you’re snoozing…
It’s official: Bedford High School has been taken over with feet pics and sleeping shots. The instagram account @bhsdogsout has been posting award-winning feet pictures of the students at BHS while @bhs_caught_slumped is capturing the intense learning environment and critical sleeping required for all classes. The sleeping in class is more of a reflection of the high workload and stress on students, but still: be careful of getting caught. If you are ever walking around with no shoes or are in need of a nap, know that you now have a chance of ending up on one of these accounts! Both accounts originate from a popular TikTok trend; it’s a shame Noe isn’t here anymore to take part with her TikTok Tuesdays.
Things to Know
On a more serious note…
The administration will be holding class meetings this week and next week to discuss school safety, including building security procedure, run-hide-fight, and see something/say something. Pretty heavy stuff.
Final phase…
The freshmen finally get their opportunity to sign up for intersession this week. More information can be found here.
The countdown continues…
Only 9 more school days until break. Hang in there.