By Joe Pratt | LTVN Sports Director

The U.S. plans to let the public health emergency for COVID-19 expire this May, marking just over three years since the viral disease reached our shores and ran its course throughout the country.

Our world before that year was different in numerous ways compared to now. Policies began to rule our lives as everyone had their own opinion on how to handle things the “right” way. COVID-19 exposed people’s true priorities which sparked division amongst government officials along with citizens as well.

When it came to putting kids back in the classroom, parents showed how much they valued safety compared to education. Businesses illustrated how much they care for their employees’ safety based on how their COVID-19 work guidelines were drawn out. Instead of dwelling on who has the correct cure or strategy for treating themselves, it’s time to put all of these disputes in the past.

At the bottom of these conflicts were the children in America. They missed out on important time to develop and build friendships. Instead, these kids were stuck at home, in front of screens, gaining nothing from their schooling experience. I’m only saying that because if it were me as a kid, I surely would not benefit from doing school from home.

COVID-19 also impacted some older students in high school and college. The kids like myself who were juniors in high school when the pandemic started may understand how it was difficult to pick back up into “real” school for the first time in two years.

I think we are just now beginning to see our lives returning to normal as we move into 2023. COVID-19 will hopefully turn into a thing of the past, and we won’t have to dictate our lives off of it anymore. It is finally time to drop the needless policies in some areas along with the many controversies involving the pandemic.