We have come a long way since the start of the pandemic: vaccines are becoming more widely accessible, and more students are back on the Hill campus each week. Anyone 16 years old and older now qualifies to get vaccinated, and most of the Hill campus will be back on campus for the remainder of the school year. While there is a real reason to celebrate, this is a critical stage in the pandemic; as we observe a downward slope in infections, following state-mandated regulations has become all the more important. As the Riverdale community continues to navigate this pandemic, we must consider how to strike a balance between restoring normalcy while remaining cautious for our community members and their families.

While the unpredictable nature of the pandemic means we can only look so far ahead, a few things remain certain: all Riverdale staff will be required to be fully vaccinated by the 2021-2022 school year. Students 16 and older are strongly encouraged to get the vaccine, but whether it will be required remains uncertain. Students of ages 12-15 now have more reason to be hopeful: the FDA recently granted emergency-use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be administered to such adolescents. 

Head of Upper School, Mr. Tom Taylor, confirms that “since vaccines will be available all summer long, we may return to a much more normal school circumstance in the fall.” Fortunately, students have recognized the value of getting vaccinated and the impact that an individual’s decisions have on the larger community. “[Getting vaccinated] is not solely about you,” says sophomore Delinda Ura. “It’s about the greater community beyond you.”

In the spirit of holding each other accountable for our collective safety, students will continue to be tested every three weeks into this upcoming school year. “We just are continuing to monitor the health of our community,” says Mr. Taylor.  He explains, “Our own infection rate contributes to our feeling comfortable to… for instance, add more students to campus.” The future of mask usage is still being considered, but for the remainder of this academic year, even community members who are vaccinated should continue to wear masks and socially distance, both indoors and outdoors. Not only should the Upper School serve as a good example for the younger students on campus, but vaccinated people can still spread Covid-19. Wearing masks significantly diminishes the possibility. 

Dr. Kelley Nicholson-Flynn, Assistant Head of School for Operations, encourages the community to remain patient during this vital time. Virus rates, and not exclusively the number of vaccinated students, are “driving our thinking,” she says. We must also remember that the state of the country is not always indicative of the conditions in the city and that it takes time before newly issued recommendations from the CDC are applied to the school. “It takes a while for [safety recommendations] to trickle through all of those different organizations before we can actually put the guidance into practice,” says Dr. Nicholson-Flynn. This further heightens our collective responsibility to abide by the aforementioned CDC guidelines. 

Students can visit the CDC website at cdc.gov for more information about Covid-19, and learn how to ensure their safety and that of others. In addition, you can visit vaccines.gov to find a vaccination site near you. Remember, all students are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated when they are eligible. According to the CDC, vaccinations are “free of charge to all people living in the United States, regardless of their immigration or health insurance status.”   

As the country’s vaccine rollout is in motion, we must continue to maintain a sense of care for those around us in order to successfully arrive at the finish line of the pandemic. This means not only getting vaccinated when we can, but to lean on each other for human connection and practice empathy and compassion in times of hardship.