You check the ingredient label on your grocery items, you check expiry dates on food, you check the label on your prescriptions, and whether you believe in vaccines or not you are also checking what’s in them regardless of which side of the argument you reside on. You do all that checking because it matters to you what you’re putting inside your body. Shouldn’t it also matter what you’re putting inside your head?

"as students and staff return to school, the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 has caused cases, hospitalizations and death rates to soar across the country. Children under 12 are particularly vulnerable to infection as they are not yet eligible for vaccination… contrary to research early in the pandemic, children are just as likely to become infected as adults. According to the CDC, COVID-19 infection rates for adolescents aged 5 to 17 were as high as in adults 18 to 49, and higher than rated in adults over 50.”

Whatever the next steps are, you must feel for educators, parents, and students heading into this school year as they collectively, literally, and figuratively hold their breath to see where on the dart board this all lands.