Opinion: Dear Houston, You’re Still The Place To Be

Dear Houston, You’re Still The Place To Be

BY ANNA BAKER

If you pay attention to the news, it’s hard to not have a negative mindset towards the world. The pandemic goes on, human rights continue to be violated, natural disasters keep ruining lives and more. Although a new semester has just started, it’s completely valid to struggle with finding motivation for classes while the state of the world continues to escalate.

However, the city of Houston is still a great place to be right now even amongst all the troubling updates of the world that we’re reminded of each day.

Being a major city, Houston continues to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic, but we fortunately have a quality medical infrastructure to face it. Even as a non-STEM major it’s cool knowing that my city has the largest medical center in the entire world.

The Texas Medical Center is known for its cancer research at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, which has been ranked the top cancer care center in the country by the U.S. News & World Report’s annual “Best Hospitals” survey. In fact, many of the hospitals in the Texas Medical Center in Houston rank very high in the country. If you need a doctor while in Houston, you’re definitely in the right place. Harris County’s mask order helped make Houston a model for other Texas cities and counties when it came to handling the pandemic. Although the Houston case numbers are still high, we are the fourth most populated city in the U.S. after all, we are trying to keep those numbers from rising. Things can be pretty scary in a big city during a pandemic, but it feels good knowing that your town and its citizens are doing what they can to help.

Speaking of which, local volunteers recently set up a community fridge in the Third Ward — which is a huge win for fighting food insecurity in the area and reducing food waste.

There are many people that are food insecure year round, but after the pandemic many have been left jobless and homeless. A community fridge is a great way to help make food more accessible to our local community members no matter their financial status.

Our University has also not been afraid to show kindness to its students and community, especially compared to other colleges out there during the coronavirus pandemic. UH didn’t hesitate to give us refunds for housing and parking last semester when effects of the pandemic began to hit the area. They also gave students the pass/fail grading option not only for the Spring 2019 semester but also for the Fall 2020 semester for undergraduates to

ensure students don’t have to see their grades drop because of circumstances out of their control.

Some may think this is the bare minimum, and it is always good to stay critical when it comes to your university, but when you look at other col- leges who kicked kids out of dorms without much time to pack, didn’t give refunds and kept their grading policy the same, it feels good to know your university did the right thing for its students.

UH also decided that all classes would have an online component to them, and those who do attend in-person class- es are able to maintain six feet of separation. They could have had plenty of in-person classes like some colleges are right now but decided not to since it wouldn’t be safe. They also are enforcing mask wearing and other COVID-19 preven- tative measures on campus, so your safety as a student is definitely being taken into account.

We also cannot forget that we go to a top tier research institution. UH not only en- forces policies to limit the spread of COVID-19 — they also fund research to eradicate the virus. Just recently, phys- ics researches created an air filter that can trap and kill the coronavirus. The filters would be installed in air conditioners to help kill viruses in medical buildings.

Things are still really hard right now for a lot of students, but know that you’re going to a great school in a great city that’s part of a great communi- ty dedicated to finding solu- tions for its citizen’s hardships.