Less than a week remains until winter break begins, yet some families in LZ are still planning on traveling during winter break for leisure. By traveling, people are putting those around them at risk and everyone else at risk as well. 

However, many have yet to decide their plans. According to the Washington Post, 3 million people traveled just over Thanksgiving, setting a record during the pandemic. Some experts say that “COVID fatigue”, or the condition of being bored due to quarantining, has become a factor that has added to these skyrocketing numbers of people who are traveling. 

But is it worth the risk?  According to the COVID-19 projections site, the expected number of deaths in February is around 110 deaths per day in Illinois with around 20,000 infections per day. Due to these record-breaking numbers, students like Julianne Schultz, sophomore, and Kaavya Vassa, freshman, feel worried about the ongoing pandemic and rising number of positive COVID-19 cases.

“I feel like people are all kind of tired of face times and everything, but I feel like that’s just the best way to connect with your families [using] another virtual platform like that,” Schultz, said. 

Schultz says that she usually goes to Green Bay in Wisconsin to visit her grandparents a couple of times each year. However, this year she recommends that people, “spend time with your family if you live with them even if you can’t spend time with your extended family.”

Vassa agrees, adding on how she was planning on going to New Jersey this holiday season says “I don’t think I’ll be traveling anywhere. COVID-19 cases are going up and I [think] that it’s important to stay safe and plus, I’m not ready to take that risk.” With how her “grandparents are at a higher risk of getting sick” than herself and how “[traveling] is not worth it, knowing how bad COVID [cases] have become just to go on vacation for a little bit of time.”

Unnecessary travel could lead to thousands of more deaths this coming winter season that potentially leads to lengthened COVID-19 season. By traveling for unnecessary reasons, you are being inconsiderate of the number of deaths that could arise from your doing. The Illinois Department of Public Health also recommends that people stay home due to how “travel increases your chances of getting infected and spreading COVID-19.” So by deciding to travel for fun, many are putting thousands of lives at risk by not being able to stay home for longer. 

For this reason, students like Schultz and Vaasa feel worried about the ongoing pandemic and rising number of positive COVID-19 cases, and you should be too. 

“It frustrates me a lot because if everyone just followed the [guidelines], COVID-19 could be over a lot faster,” Schultz said.