California Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced a new measure that requires all California school teachers and staff to either show proof of vaccination or get tested every week to accommodate in-person learning. 

The new mask mandate in Californian schools for the 2020-21 school year was implemented for the safety of students and teachers alike, changing the way school is being held throughout the year. 

Teachers often have to meet and interact with more than 150 students in a six-period day, making them at risk of contracting and spreading COVID. 

“I meet with probably around 150 students a day. Teachers are definitely more at risk of getting and spreading COVID. I do believe that the mandate is a good idea — this has to be required if we ever want to approach a place where the disease isn’t freely circulating,” said English teacher and Competitive Civics Coach Stacey Sklar.

The CDC reports that fully vaccinated people spread COVID less and have few symptoms as compared to unvaccinated. In addition, the vaccine mandate does not cause as much disruption to the classroom environment as a mask mandate. 

“I am not inconvenienced by this new mandate. Another thing that would make my classroom safer is if there were a mandate for students to get vaccinated, which I think eventually is going to happen once the vaccine is FDA approved,” said Sklar.