COVID-19 has impacted many people’s lives. Some more so than others, but everyone has experienced some sort of impact. Many of us have our family and friends around us to help keep us positive, motivated, and happy during these stressful times, but that may change this year for the holidays.

Many things throughout the pandemic had gotten cancelled or restricted, like restaurants, amusement parks, the Erie County Fair, parties, so it is obvious we haven’t been able to do much. One thing that my family loves to do is travel. Obviously this year, we couldn’t go on any vacations we were planning on taking that are out of state because of the travel restrictions. 

Now, my family is okay with having to cancel one vacation. There’s always next year, there will always be another time. But the travel restrictions aren’t just for vacations.

If you have a family member who lives in different states, you can’t see them. That’s way worse than not being able to go on a vacation right? Not being able to see a loved one is horrible. What if that loved one is your mom or your dad? You wouldn’t be able to see them for months. 

The first months of quarantine we couldn’t go anywhere. When things opened back up in the summer, the travel restrictions should have loosened up too right? No, they didn’t. There was still a list that was updated very frequently. The list included states you have to quarantine if you went there.

The travel restrictions are extremely unfair, because why would you have to quarantine to visit your father, grandmother, or your child? Why couldn’t you just go see them? On the other hand, there are people who go out of the state then come back sick with COVID and spread it to others, so the restrictions do make sense. 

Yes, it should be your choice. If you want to travel, you should be able to. No one should be able to tell you what to do and where to go, or if you have to quarantine once you return. But, we are looking out for other people. We’re not going to be selfish and not listen just because we are too scared to get tested, or we don’t want to quarantine because we want to see our friends. If you want to travel, either follow the precautions so that you can keep yourself and others around you safe, or just not travel for a little bit longer and find comfort in using zoom or facetime. 

Believe me, not being able to see my father is horrible. Not being able to hug my grandparents is horrible, but wouldn’t you rather keep others safe than risk their health just because you want to give them a hug? Or just because you don’t care about the rules? 

The travel restrictions are in place so that we can keep everyone around us safe. It’s not meant to make everyone happy, and I know it’s not appealing to be stuck home for the holidays. In reality though, no rules make every single person happy. Some people like the travel restrictions, but also aren’t affected by it. Others hate it because it affects them in so many different ways. We all have different views and different opinions on the best way to keep us all safe. We’re not all going to get our way, but we have to respect the decisions that are being made and respect others enough to follow the rules. 

There are more important things to worry about during this time than traveling. Let’s keep everyone healthy and safe, and then we can travel as much as we want! 

Lexi Herrmann

Lexi is a senior at Sweet Home High School and previously wrote for the Panther Press where she was the editor for the News section for two years. Lexi is now the Opinion section editor of The Panther Eye. She plays volleyball for the Varsity team at Sweet Home.