Since early 2020, COVID-19 has taken over Theodore Roosevelt High School. It has stopped kids from coming to school, playing sports, and seeing each others’ faces. One thing that it didn’t stop was kids eating lunch.

Lunch last year wasn’t a problem at all. Seniors and juniors could leave, there were dividers in between every person at tables, assigned seats, and cases were finally beginning to decrease.

Students and teachers were getting vaccinated and the light at the end of the tunnel was getting brighter and brighter. Then, summer happened, and the light began to fade. Masks then became second thoughts for the unvaccinated and vaccinated people all around.

Cases began to rise, bringing us to the present day. Lunch today is very different from last year. It’s crowded, no assigned seats, barely any dividers, and you can only leave if you have a flex pass.

The question at hand is why take all these risks when case numbers are the same as last year? People crowd around lunch tables with no masks at all. According to the school, you must wear masks at all times, unless you are actively eating or drinking, of course.

What do the students have to say about this? Students all over the school have differing opinions on the topic at hand. One student named Griffin Pahls, who is a senior at Theodore Roosevelt High School, agrees with the fact that lunch is a fiasco.

Pahls states,” Last year was completely different to what it looks like now. It’s crowded, there are no dividers, and people aren’t wearing masks when they are supposed to. I of course agree with the fact that you can’t wear them when you’re eating, although when you’re not, you should have it on.”

Another student, Ikram Naqash who is also a senior at Theodore Roosevelt High School, says that, “compared to last year, lunch is too crowded. People as well aren’t wearing their masks when they need to. Also regarding the dividers, I don’t think that there should be any because they are a waste of space and money. As well, even if seniors and juniors could leave where would they go. Some students don’t have transportation and how would that be fair to the freshman and sophmores.”

Without dividers and assigned seats, contract tracing seems impossible, and spikes in COVID cases may be in the near future. Students and faculty could get sick and then lead to online schooling, which everyone agrees is awful!

We also don’t know who is vaccinated. If the school doesn’t overlook this problem then spikes will for sure come.