Since Peddie students left campus after the fall, there has been an increase in COVID cases within both the Peddie community and the United States. According to Dr. Aimee Goodman, there were 5 reported cases during the fall term, and 6 reported cases during the first half of the winter term in the Peddie community.

As Peddie prepares to return to a hybrid mode on January 25, there have been mixed emotions among students about whether or not to return to in-person classes. 

Muskan Manchanda ’23 is one student who has decided to go entirely remote for winter term, seeing that the situation is not getting better. “I think Peddie has been taking precautions and handling COVID pretty well,” says Manchanda. “I think some people stopped taking the necessary precautions [since leaving campus] which resulted in an increase of cases.” 

In addition, Ava Bajwa ’23 is also going fully remote for the winter term. “My biggest concern is the increased amount of people that are going to be indoors because of the colder weather, which I do think will increase the number of cases at Peddie if people aren’t cautious.” says Bajwa. Although she agrees that Peddie has responded appropriately to the recent cases, her decision from December 15 has not changed. 

Alternatively, other students have chosen to return on campus for similar reasons.

While the reasoning for going entirely remote for the first half of winter term was to prevent the spread of disease, some students feel that it has done the opposite. “Going home gives people more opportunity to break COVID regulations; a lot more people have been seeing their friends and going to parties. I personally feel if everyone was at school it could be avoided,” says Angie Getze ’23. Therefore, she has decided to return to campus for the remainder of the term. 

However, Getze has her doubts about the safety of being on campus due to many uncontrollable factors. “[Although] we follow safety measures, when using the bathroom and eating, it doesn’t matter if you are wearing a mask or being cautious because you can still contract COVID…Day students and faculty kids are able to leave campus and break rules, but the school doesn’t have control over what [they] do outside of school,” said Getze.

Daniel Kardhashi ’23, a day student, feels similarly about out-of-school activities concerning his peers. “I think going back to school for us won’t be terrible, as it relies mostly on day students and their whereabouts.” Kardhashi notes that the emails coming in about the cases have forced him to be more cautious about returning. Despite his view on the seriousness of the situation, he has hope for the near future. “With the vaccine production, the situation [might] be slightly relieved come March or April.”