Vaccinated older adults emerge from their coronavirus hibernation

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Bill Griffin waited more than a year for this moment: recently vaccinated, he hugged his 3-year-old granddaughter for the first time since the pandemic began.

“He came running. I grabbed her and gave her a hug. It was amazing, ”the 70-year-old said after last weekend’s meeting.

Spring has arrived with sunshine and warmer weather and many vaccinated older adults, such as Griffin, are coming out of the hibernation imposed by COVID-19.

From shopping in person or going to the gym to bigger milestones, such as visiting family, people who were previously at higher risk for COVID-19 are starting to move forward to get their lives on track. More than 47% of Americans over the age of 65 are completely vaccinated.

Visiting grandchildren is a priority for many older adults. In Arizona, Gailen Krug has yet to have her first grandchild, who was born a month after the Minneapolis pandemic. Now fully vaccinated, Krug is planning to travel for her granddaughter’s first birthday in April.

“I can’t wait,” said Krug, whose interactions have only been surpassed by Zoom and FaceTime. “It’s very weird not to have her in life yet.”

The excitement he feels, however, is steeped in sadness. His mother-in-law’s mother, with whom he hoped to be able to share his grandmother’s roles, died of COVID-19 just hours after the baby was born. He hired her in a nursing home.

Isolated by the pandemic, older adults were hard hit by the loneliness caused by restrictions aimed at keeping people safe. Many of them held summer meetings, canceled vacation plans, and missed family vacation meetings in November and December.

In states with older populations, such as Maine, Arizona and Florida, health officials were concerned about the emotional and physical weight of loneliness, which poses an additional health problem to the virus.

But that is changing, and more seniors are reappearing in public after being one of the first groups to get vaccinated.

Those who are fully vaccinated are ready to leave Dodge without worrying about putting themselves in danger amid a pandemic that has caused more than 540,000 lives in the United States.

“It simply came to our notice then. I feel good about moving forward, ”said Ken Hughes, a 79-year-old Florida resident who flies with his wife on an annual trip to Arizona in the late April pandemic.

Many older adults are eager to get on a plane to travel. Others look forward to the simplest things, such as eating at the restaurant, going to a movie theater, or playing bingo.

Sally Adams, 74, was one of the seniors who showed up at a “parking bingo” in Glendale, Arizona. She felt safe because she had been vaccinated and because she was in her car at the first bingo event in over a year.

Once he meets the time to achieve maximum immunity, he plans to devote himself to small things like eating out. Both she and her husband, who is also vaccinated, have only made takeaway food. Now they feel that it will be okay to even eat inside, as long as it is not crowded.

“We’ll probably go in and grab the table farthest from other people to be safe,” he said.

In fact, many older adults take a cautious approach, especially when U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refused to facilitate travel recommendations.

Frequent traveler Cindy Charest was so excited about the possibility of fleeing for the first time in more than a year that she posted an airplane emoji with a photo of her vaccine on social media.

But he is taking an attitude of waiting after the CDC recommended, for now, that they not travel by plane.

“I think I got excited about it prematurely,” said Charest, 65, of Westbrook, Maine. But she is ready to jump when the time comes. It is pending change of direction.

Others are also cautious.

“We’re still in the heart,” said Claudette Greene, 68, of Portland, Maine. “We’ve come a long way, but we’re not done with that.”

Kathy Bubar said she and her husband are completely vaccinated, but in no hurry to push things. The 73-year-old Portland resident plans to wait until the fall before planning any major trips. He hopes to go on a safari in December.

“My goal in all this is not to be the last person to die of COVID. I am willing to be patient and take the time it takes, ”he said.

The Griffins were also cautious before reuniting with their granddaughter.

Bill Griffin, of Waterboro, did not dare to have close contact with family members until he was vaccinated, as he has lung disease, heart disease, kidney disease and high blood pressure, all the factors that pushed him. to a high-risk category of COVID 19.

“Everyone wants to live in the moment, but the moment could have been very deadly. We listened to the scientists, ”he said.

Associated Press writers Adriana Gómez Licon in Miami and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.