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To the editor:

While reading Jimmy LaRoue’s article “Mask requirements still stands for SPS” (Jan. 21), I felt an abundance of comfort to know that the Suffolk Public Schools system decided to keep the mask mandate for students and staff. Attending in-person at a high school of SPS has made some parents and students, including myself, wary of catching COVID-19 due to the fact that we are in close quarters with one another. It goes beyond just the people in school, but to the families that students and staff go home to. These family members could be parents, grandparents or siblings that have medical conditions that cause them to be at risk. I will admit, masking up can seem bothersome at times when it comes to speaking or even breathing, but keeping the community and myself safe is a bigger priority.

Masks are important now more than the start of the school year with the new variants of the virus and the great amount of people that have traveled over the winter break. I saw first hand the amount of students who were sick returning from vacation, and it was unsettling to know that I could get sick easier now if SPS decided in opposition. It is a known fact that the masks will not shield people from everything, just like social distancing and Plexiglas will not as well, but we cannot discredit the fact that they do protect us by limiting the spread of the virus.

Makylah Blizzard

Suffolk