British Columbians’ thoughts on reopening 

 With more people vaccinated and summer break coming up, is it a good idea to lift restrictions? 

Finally, we’re in step 2 of Dr. Bonnie Henry’s COVID-19 restart plan. Will normal life slowly come back to us with more people getting vaccinated or will we be put in another year of quarantine because of this decision? 

For a year, we’ve been dealing with the coronavirus with the help of Dr. Bonnie Henry putting up restrictions to limit people from going out and spreading the virus. Even though some locals still aren’t following the guidelines, CTV News states that “More than 75% of B.C adults have now received at least one dose of vaccine.” Families and children 12-years and up, are getting vaccinated more everyday and are lessening cases and hospitalizations. Are B.C students and workers on Dr. Bonnie Henry’s side on lifting restrictions? Or do they think otherwise? 

High school student from Dr. Charles Best Secondary School, Coquitlam, B.C, Dylan Lee who is all about living life to the fullest through summer says, “Lifting the restrictions of COVID-19 just in time for the summer 2021 will get most citizens happy since they get to spend their summer with friends and family. Since the vaccine is going around and helping cases go down daily, this can hopefully be a new start to the upcoming year.” 

It’s hard to say that we are completely in the safe zone and this is what Amelie Ko, another Burnaby high school student from Alpha Secondary, has to say about it. “I think it isn’t the smartest option considering the fact that the times we’ve lifted restrictions, cases have always risen.” 

With that input in mind, “Physically distancing and giving others space is also still required,” Bonnie Henry says. “We need to recognize that not everybody is at the same place right now and we need to respect their ability to stay away from others.” 

“Personally, I wasn’t affected as other people due to the closures,” says Hassan Zaidi, a Burnaby high school student from Alpha Secondary School. Zaidi is optimistic about his summer, 2021. “I think that it’s great we are slowly beginning to reopen outdoor and indoor activities, travel and I think this is going to be great for small businesses.” 

“I still agree and think that we should not completely reopen everything,” Hassan says, “There are still many cases being reported daily and we should wait until everybody is vaccinated to completely reopen, but it’s good that we are slowly beginning to open again because it affected everything changing in our lives and we can start to get back to normal.”

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