End of the masked age

Bareen Abdulrahman, ‘26 stalled the complete invasion of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) recently announced that all students and staff members are no longer required to wear masks in CPS buildings.

This decision was based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) decision to change their COVID-19 guidelines, allowing 70% of Americans to choose to go maskless.

The new mandate categorizes the recommendations of masking to fit the severity of COVID-19 in every county (e.g., amount of hospitalizations, amount of deaths, etc.). There are three levels: low, medium and high, and Hamilton County is currently low with the seven day moving average being eight cases as of March 15 according to Hamilton County Public Health.

Based on the guidelines, counties with a medium status are given a choice to lift the mandate, and CPS chose to make masks optional.

Of 100 WHHS students surveyed, more than half said they did not expect the mask mandate to end so soon. When asked whether they agreed to this decision, 31 said they agreed, 32 said they disagreed and 37 said they were caught in the middle.

During the meeting of the Board of Education on March 6, many of the public speakers weren’t in favor of ending the mask mandate so soon, and wanted it to happen either sometime around spring break, or next school year.

Two days after the mandate was lifted, most students continued to wear masks, which surprised many.

Russia has already taken over the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant where one of the worst nuclear catastrophes took place. Russia’s army is now a few miles from Kyiv. Russia, on March 6, 2022, continued to bomb Kyiv according to The Guardian.

Ukraine has also received support from the EU, US and NATO, which have sanctioned Russia severely. 80% of Russia’s banks have been removed from the SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) system which will take a heavy toll on Russia’s economy. The US Commerce Department announced Friday it had further restricted Russian access to oil and gas extraction equipment and products needed for refining oil, and to American software and technology that might be used by the Russian military according to TIME.

Nobody knows how Russia is going to respond to the sanctions. CBS News reports that some people are saying that Russia is going to use Cyber Attacks on the US and EU. They also say Russians might use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. The Biden Administration is convincing other countries to ramp up oil production as an offset for not buying Russian oil. They have also released 30 million barrels of oil from the US Strategic Reserve.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Russia and Ukraine officials have met three times to try to broker an agreement without success.

“It’s not that I want to talk to Putin,” Zelenski said. “I need to talk to Putin. The world needs to talk to Putin. There is no other way to stop this war.”

Even after the mandate was lifted, a majority of students continued to wear masks for various reasons. Teachers and staff have advocated for tolerance and respect towards everyone’s decisions on whether to mask up or not.

During the board meeting, it was suggested that all students would choose to go maskless right away, and those who continued to wear masks would be singled out, but it was almost the exact opposite.

This caused many to hesitate to take their masks off, and many teachers had to take some time to explain to their students that whether someone wears or doesn’t wear their mask, doesn’t change what type of person they are.

Armaan Tindni, ‘27, said, “[The mask mandate] will make people happy to see each other’s faces, but it could be a health hazard if there is another outbreak.”

The HBO series “Euphoria” has swept the nation, and their teenage viewership is leading the fandom. The show follows the dramafilled lives of several high school students. The common themes of drug use, sex, mental health, struggle with addiction and friendships keep watchers coming back for more. We asked WHHS what they thought about the popular TV show. In response to the question of “who is your favorite character,” survey results reveal Fezco, the kind hearted, school-dropout drug dealer, as being voted #1, followed by Maddy and Lexi. Maddy, although she is always in the center of drama, is simply iconic. As for “best couple,” Lexi and Fez won with a clear majority at 64% of survey takers, Rue and Jules taking second place. For most toxic couple, Nate and Maddy won no question; their relationship has had ups and downs at extreme levels. Best style goes to Maddy with her New Years outfit getting the most recognition.