In about a week, I’ll be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, meaning that two weeks will have passed since I received the second of two doses.
I will feel a little less vulnerable, but I won’t be throwing caution to the wind. I’ll still follow federal, state and local guidance. We all should. After all, none of the vaccines is 100% effective, and too many of our fellow citizens are not vaccinated yet. And there’s still so much we don’t know about the coronavirus.
Just Friday, it was reported that 10 assisted living residents in New York have tested positive for COVID-19 at a community where 98% of residents and 72% of staff members have been vaccinated. Seven of the 10 sick residents had been vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine earlier this year, according to WGRZ.
According to community officials, many of the residents became sick after going to a family member’s home for Easter. Fortunately, the residents either are experiencing mild symptoms or are asymptomatic.
COVID-19 outbreaks are increasing again in assisted living communities and nursing homes in Colorado, according to the Denver Post. Twenty-nine outbreaks have been reported since April 1, after most residents were vaccinated, according to the media outlet.
And earlier this month, health officials in South Dakota said they were investigating a cluster of COVID-19-positive cases among fully vaccinated senior living residents and staff members. That news came on the heels of news that a Kentucky nursing home experienced a coronavirus outbreak among both vaccinated and unvaccinated residents last month after an unvaccinated person brought a previously unidentified variant into the building.
More stories like those ones are out there.
We all long for the days when masks and social distancing don’t need to be top-of-mind. And those days will get here more quickly if we all try to get vaccinated and continue to be cautious a little longer.
