Julia Maher ’23

When Holy Cross announced that students will be required to get the Covid vaccine except for religious or medical excuses, I was ecstatic. I have been home for 18 months due to the pandemic, and I have been fully vaccinated for a week now. Since most students will be vaccinated, we can feel very safe on campus because of the efficacy of the vaccine. It truly is a dream come true. Vaccinations mean we can socialize and enjoy our time on campus after taking covid precautions for many months.

Think about it—we will most likely be able to do many normal activities, like eat in Kimball, socialize with our friends, attend campus events, and go to in-person classes. These activities sound amazing to me. I cannot wait to go back, and I bet students who are in similar positions as me feel the same way.

Many people suspect that the 2020’s will be a similar social phenomenon as the Roaring ‘20s, which occurred after the Spanish flu pandemic. I would not be surprised if that is true. Although many factors are different in the 21st century and it might be exactly the same as the Roaring ‘20s, there will undoubtedly be a boom in social and economic activity now that more people feel hopeful about the future.

It will be so amazing and refreshing to return back to normal life on campus, but it is unlikely that the US as a whole will ever reach herd immunity due to vaccine hesitancy and virus variants. For several years to come, it will be likely that people will still die from and be hospitalized because of COVID-19 (The New York Times). Although we will likely return to normal on campus, we should still be mindful that the US as a whole and many other countries are still struggling to fight this pandemic.