The Connecticut government continues to ease up Covid- 19 restrictions, and allow more freedom, as the vaccine becomes more available. Over the last couple of months the state of Connecticut has seen a withdrawal of some of these regulations, like the mask mandate, as the amount of people getting vaccinated continues to rise.

Many of the restrictions that had previously been put in place within school communities are starting to be reduced as Connecticut schools are seeing less cases due to the vaccine being given. The Covid- 19 vaccine is now available to anyone who wants to get it, which is not only helping to reduce cases, but also reduce the level of sickness of the people who do get Covid- 19. Dr. Syed Hussain, Chief Clinical Officer at Trinity Health of New England told Fox61 in an interview, “The things that these vaccines are really good at is preventing severe diseases, hospitalization and death…”

Some of the Covid restrictions that were in place within the Hall community are seeing a reduction as Covid becomes less of a threat to spread in schools with vaccination rates increasing. An article written by the Norwich Bulletin said that the CIAC met with athletic directors from across the state of Connecticut and said “Vaccinated high school athletes in Connecticut will not have to wear masks while competing during the upcoming winter season…”

The reduction of some of the regulations concerning winter sports, excites Indoor Track Captain Toby Ruffo as he plans to make use of the season, because the team wasn’t able to have one last year. Ruffo explained that they were forced to train individually last year, and he said that, “It definitely did take away from the team aspect of it.” Ruffo also said, “I am just really excited to compete in the winter again, and have another chance at competing for a state championship… and compete to have the opportunity to defend our state title.”

Hall senior, Scottie Gilden views the progressions as highly encouraging, and said that as Covid restrictions are now more in the background, “Interacting doesn’t have to be as much on the forefront of your concern, with always having to be so cautious, but there are still some cautions that we are still taking, but those that are small have become more normal…”

Sarah Wilson, a mother of two students at Hall stated, “We are able to feel more comfortable, out in public, and starting to get back to normal” When talking about the school’s decision to decrease some Covid restrictions within the school environment she said, “I feel that it is safe, I feel like they are so on top of it now, that they won’t let it get away from them, and I feel like, the kids have a high vaccination rate, so I am glad that they decreased some of the regulations.”

There is no set time as to when the mask mandate will be removed from schools, because spikes in cases can happen at any time. An article written by Nicholas Rondinone, in CT Insiders said, “As COVID cases among students and staff continue to steadily decline, the governor’s office said Friday the school mask mandate could be lifted when more children are vaccinated.” Later in the article Rondinone explains that while the Covid cases were trending in the right direction, lifting the mask mandate in schools now could have a negative impact, because there are a lot less kids who have gotten the vaccine because of the previous age requirements to get it.