The Story
Last Thursday, Governor Sununu announced that he would create a statewide mask mandate.
Wait, what?
Before this, New Hampshire was the only state in New England that did not explicitly require masks, and one of only 16 states in the country. While state officials did encourage people to wear masks, there was also no real way to enforce it without a state mandate. So what happened?
What’s the deal?
Governor Sununu previously said that a statewide or even nationwide mask requirement was not the proper solution. He did support small scale town mandates, but also claimed that a “one size fits all” policy wouldn’t be necessary. However, before you get all confused as to why this is actually happening, one last piece of info is crucial: Sununu also said that if the coronavirus got significantly worse, he would consider a state obligation.
And?
Apparently, now we’re at his breaking point! Yay? At his press conference, Sununu affirmed that a state mandate was never off the table, and cited his reason for it is that the state is now documenting its highest number of new coronavirus cases since the onset of the pandemic. Uh oh. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 has also doubled in New Hampshire during the last 14 days.
How does it work?
It’s pretty simple. Whenever people over the age of 5 are inside in a public place, or outside in a place where you can’t socially distance, masks are required. While there isn’t any real punishment or fine for not wearing a mask, Sununu said that his main tool for making people wear one is education. Also known as, making people actually want to wear one.
What do people think?
Before Sununu’s press conference, we asked followers on our instagram, @runawaybulldog, if they would support New Hampshire having a mask mandate. Out of 74 people who responded to our survey, a whopping 85% of participants said they would support a state mask requirement. We would assume that the majority of people’s opinions haven’t changed since then. So we better see some masks out and about.
The Runaway
Wear a mask. Especially since, well, you have to now.
What To Say…
When you want even more social distancing…
You might get it, because the Bedford School District is losing students. Apparently, enrollment is going down, and has been for about 3 years now. This year, we had 4,269 students in the entire district at the beginning of the school year, although that number has risen slightly. This is a decrease of 165 students compared to last year, where there were 4,434 students. And two years ago, there were 4,525 students. You get the idea. The reason for this is that some students are deciding to switch to private schools (insert Bedford rich kid joke here). Also, one reason exclusively because of this year is the pandemic, which caused some students to opt for homeschooling. However, even if things go back to normal, there is still a good chance that the number of students will continue to decrease by a little bit next year. So maybe we’ll actually be able to find seats in the library for once.
When you’ve got the travel bug in the middle of a pandemic…
Not so fast. The NH Department of Health and Human Services is still recommending that people avoid non-essential travel for Thanksgiving, as well as gatherings with others not a part of your immediate household. However, if you find yourself on a car or a plane headed outside NH, here’s what you need to know. People who have travelled outside of New England need to quarantine for 14 days when they get back. If they have a negative COVID test on or after the 7th day of quarantine, they can come back to school. This Day 7 thing does not apply to people quarantining due to actual COVID-19 exposure, just to those who have travelled. Students who are in quarantine will follow the same schedule and expectations of, you guessed it, the fully remote students. In case you still haven’t read it, you can find those expectations in the Hybrid Learning Guide.
When you’re just starting to settle in to a new routine…
Things are about to get spicy, because guess who’s back? The first Senior Project google meet was held on November 18th, and two more are scheduled for December 16th and January 13th. According to Jozokos’s latest principal notes, the curriculum has been shortened and modified to fit COVID restrictions. Each quarter will have 3 google meets for seniors and mentors to discuss projects, and the administration is encouraging completely remote projects this year and suggesting smaller scale AOKs, just to be safe. Sorry athletes, that means no sports camps. Now, you may be wondering about that fun presentation at the end of the year. Are seniors doing it? Well, as of now, it’s not required. That’s right, we said as of now. That means that if it’s deemed safe, the SP administrative team can technically pull a fast one on the seniors and say that they actually have to do it. They have been simply told to be prepared. Yikes. Good luck, seniors.
Things to Know
Feeling generous?
The BHS canned food drive ends tomorrow. Can you contribute? Ha ha. We’re sorry.
Everybody makes mistakes…
Two weeks ago, we accidentally said that Lisa Nash won the election. In actuality, it was Laurie Sanborn. Sorry about that.