Give Me Liberty, or Give Me.. Corona?

There has not been much going on through social media the past couple weeks. The NHL and NBA have suspended their seasons. The NCAA cancelled the March Madness Basketball Tournament, as well as cancelling all Spring 2020 sports. Music festivals such as Firefly and Lightning in a Bottle have cancelled their 2020 shows, meanwhile other festivals like Bonnaroo and Coachella have postponed their shows until the fall season. All schools have cancelled face-to-face classes and have moved to the virtual classroom. Well, all schools besides one. Liberty University President, Jerry Falwell Jr., confirmed that the school will re-open this week.

This decision by the Liberty University President has sent Twitter into a frenzy. One tweet by @jbouie really put things into some perspective.

For those wondering, the COVID-19 virus (the corona virus) attacks older adults with pre-existing medical conditions the hardest. The virus can live up to three hours on water droplets from a sneeze - which is invisible to the human eye.

According to the article I will link below this, Falwell said "I think we have a responsibility to our students - who paid to be here, who love it here - to give them the ability to be with their friends, to continue their studies, enjoy the room and board they've already paid for and to not interrupt their college life."

As of Monday, March 23rd, 250 people had tested positive for the virus in the state of Virginia, with seven people dead. Falwell believes the university has taken the steps needed to fight the virus. For Liberty's sake, you have to wonder if this decision is the wisest.