HOW TO HELP YOUNG PEOPLE AVOID GETTING CORONAVIRUS
We have all seen the headlines from across the country blaming young people for the surge in coronavirus cases. We have heard stories of college students partying and f louting rules on social distancing. Some universities have had to scale back or cancel plans for inperson instruction due to increased COVID-19 cases. But the reality is more nuanced. Our young people come from many diverse backgrounds and life experiences. The hard-partying, virus-spreading stereotype does not apply to the vast majority.
We call on our youth to take up the challenge proffered by Nelson Mandela, to “be the scriptwriters of your destiny and feature yourselves as stars that showed the way to a brighter future.” If we walk together and create true partnership, great things are possible.
Yes, some of the youth-centric COVID-19 cases arose from large gatherings without social distancing and masking, but it’s also true that many of our young people are employed in essential jobs that place them at increased risk of exposure. At least 40 percent of undergraduate college students work 30 or more hours per week, so our youth are on the front lines.
Through my work mentoring high school and college students, I have personally seen one student contract COVID-19 through her second job at a long-term care facility. I have students working as EMTs and serving the public in the food service industry and at grocery stores. They often take care of younger siblings and elderly family members. Any comprehensive effort to address the youth surge must be joined with a serious effort to ensure our essential workers are protected. Too often the small businesses where our youth work are left to institute coronavirus precautions at their own expense without government assistance.
When we speak about youth, there are biological distinctions we need to consider. Dr. Frances Jensen, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, details many such differences in her book “The Teenage Brain.” She points out that the teen brain is only about 80 percent mature in terms of connectivity and the frontal lobes are where it is lacking the most. Practically, this means parents, mentors, and teachers of teens must understand that there is a natural tendency towards impulsiveness and risk-taking behavior — but at the same time, we can intervene.
As adult leaders, we can reinforce the importance of good decision-making: As Jensen writes, “You have to stuff their minds with real stories, real consequences, and then you have to do it again.” Young people need reinforcement, and it’s not nagging when it’s done in a thoughtful, considered way. They need us to provide that extra spark that creates the connection that leads to a check, stop and pause moment the next time someone asks them to engage in risky behavior. The approach can’t just focus on the negative. Students must be acknowledged for positive efforts to fight the virus, recognized as true partners in this battle. Our goal should be to empower young people and help them understand their important role in combating the virus. We want to channel their energy in a positive direction.
We must put young people in a position where they can succeed. Design policies that recognize the innate desire for socialization where large numbers of young people live and congregate. That means housing policies that make it easier to sort students by small social groups in campus housing where students can create their own “families” away from home, that operate much like individual family units, lessening the desire to seek socialization in large, impersonal gatherings that are notorious for the spread of the virus. We should incentivize students to create their own virtual social events and publicize it when students step up with safe and innovative ideas to combat isolation in the age of COVID-19.
As adults, the most important step we can take is modeling good behavior and setting a good example, not crowding unmasked into bars and concerts as was the scene at the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Writing about and reinforcing good behavior will help normalize it, whereas headlines that only feature dangerous behavior make it seem the norm, adding to a situation that feels hopeless and unfixable, ultimately legitimizing the bad apples.
In these difficult times, as we strive to work with young people, I recall the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” That is our test.