March 23 was a sad day for the St. Christopher’s community as Gov. Ralph Northam announced closure of all Virginia schools. The mandate hit seniors hardest, as their last spring as St. Christopher’s students takes place from a distance. Until this point in time questions such as “What about graduation?” and “What about Junior/Senior?” just kept coming in. Now, with a new order from Gov. Northam, the question becomes, “Will there even be a summer?”
While practically old news now, Governor Northam’s Executive Order #55 provided specific details on which activities are allowed and which are not. The main takeaways are the three justifiable reasons to leave your house: necessities, healthcare and exercise. If you are caught leaving the house for other reasons, or for not following previous orders about the “novel Coronavirus,” offenses start with a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Most Virginians saw this executive order coming. The hot topic now is whether the June 10 end date for “shelter-in-place” will be too long, too short, or just the right amount of time.
Much of the St. Christopher’s community seems to share the same sentiment — quarantine is necessary to protect lives in our community and is part of the duty we have to halt the spread of the virus. To students such as Ned Mangum ’22, keeping others healthy is also the fastest way to getting back to normal life. He said that “if we want to get out of here as fast as possible, we should social distance.”
Other students like Heaton O’Brien ’22 are disappointed in the extension, understanding the necessity, but missing school. He said, “I don’t particularly like it because I can’t hang with anybody. It’s just me and my mom and my dog at home, so it’s pretty boring.”
For many, this new executive order didn’t affect them all that much from what might already had been put in place. “I’ve rarely left the house,” Upper School English Teacher Sherman Horner said. “I stay in place. I go and see my mother, make sure she is doing alright. I’ve gone to the grocery store, and I’ve gone to get takeout, but that’s it.”
St. Christopher’s Upper School Journalism Teacher Kathleen Thomas, said it makes her feel safe. “There has to be an enforced mandate to keep this under control,” she said.
Much of the community feel as though all Virginians aren’t stepping up and following their responsibility of staying home. “I didn’t see June 10 coming as an end date. However, I see why he put it in place, and I was hoping we could hop back into things on April 15,” Mr. Horner said. Instead, he believes Gov. Northam overextended the social distancing because some people were not following it. “We’ve been doing what we should be doing, but I don’t know if folks are.”