As a student at the University of Texas at Dallas, I’ve witnessed how young adults are more prone to make decisions without thinking of the long-term consequences. Since the amygdala (which is more sensitive to social rewards) grows at a much faster rate than the frontal cortex (which is responsible for rational, consequence-driven decision-making), many college students don’t realize they would have a worse social life if they had Long COVID than if they just wore a mask.
My in-person classes are filled with unmasked students constantly coughing, sneezing, and/or sniffling aggressively. Almost every day, I see someone complaining in my Instagram notes section that they’re sick or they have Long COVID-esque symptoms. Ironically, these same people are the ones who ask me why I wear a mask. I’m doing my part to protect the immunocompromised and others with disabilities, as well as myself. Not only that, but I’m half Mexican from my mom’s side. My Latinidad is a major reason why I’m COVID conscious.
According to most historical estimates, around 80% of the Aztec population was killed by diseases brought by Spanish settlers, primarily smallpox, and a disease the Aztecs called cocoliztli. We Mexicans must learn from what happened to our ancestors so that we do not repeat the behavior of our colonizers. Unfortunately, I struggle to find a Mexican-American COVID conscious community that shares these values, especially at UTD. I was interested in joining the UTD Mexican Student Association until I saw a picture of their Lotería night on Instagram that had dozens of attendees with not even one masked. Latin people are disproportionately affected by COVID in the United States. We must uplift and support each other so that we can let our history of dying out from disease stay in the past.
