While it is not unheard of for the common cold to spread around communities, it is also common to find the faces of sick students roaming the halls of BHS. Flu season is quickly approaching – if it is not already here. With COVID-19 cases also on the rise in Bismarck since October, it is crucial that students at BHS remain home when they are sick.

The 2021-2022 school year at BHS has implemented a new attendance policy that allows students to stay at home when they are sick with little repercussions. The previous policy, which stated if a student had more than two excused absences then they were required to take their final exams, is no longer in place. A part of the new policy states that as long as a student has an A, a 92 percent or higher, they will not have to take their final semester exams as long as they meet a few other non-attendance-related requirements. 

There is a slim chance that someone walks into a classroom at BHS and does not hear at least one student sniffling. There is actually a greater chance that there are multiple students sniffling than there is that no one is. There is also the passing of germs from people sneezing and coughing, regardless of if they do it into their elbow. 

In general, communities did a pretty good job staying home and isolating when COVID-19 was at its earliest peak in 2020. But people seem to want everything to be normal without actually putting in that effort anymore. People who work can usually earn sick time and should use it when they are sick. People who need to run errands now have the ability to order their groceries online and have a zero-contact pickup. People who are in school, at least at BHS, can stay home when they are sick instead of putting their classmates and teachers at risk of whatever it is they have.

It is in everyone’s best interest to keep this community safe during the season of the flu plus COVID-19. Everyone just wants everything to go back to normal, pre-pandemic style. However, that is not going to happen anytime soon if people keep making other people sick.