MIAMI – By the end of next week, Nancy Krinick hopes to receive her second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. But the 67-year-old legal secretary from Sunrise, Florida, plans to maintain her daily routine of avoiding virtually all human contact, even after being fully vaccinated. The same goes for her sister and brother-in-law, both over 65 and who had their first photos with her at Marlins Park in Miami, Krinick told The Daily Beast.
“With these new variants, we are still concerned,” she said, adding, “It looks like this has no end.”
She will continue to receive her purchases at home via Instacart, avoid dining out and postpone visits to her daughter in Knoxsville, Tennessee, until the majority of the US population has been immunized, Krinick said.
As coronavirus extracontagious mutations gain strength as a hurricane strikes the Atlantic coast, Floridians like Krinick see no sign of a truce. Although they have yet to issue formal guidance on the congregation of vaccinated people, state and national health experts have assured the general public that vaccines are effective – even, if perhaps less, against variants that emerge across the country.
But in a state with a long history of pandemic recklessness and where mask prescriptions are non-existent, vaccinated Floridians don’t want to risk getting infected by going out in public.
Here, taking a photo offers little more than a minimum of relief.
Deadly COVID mutations can’t stop the party in Florida
Thanks to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ continued approach to forcing his state to be fully open for business and leisure, increasing the spread of the community seems virtually inevitable. Last weekend, despite warnings from state epidemiologists, a series of potential over-spreading events took Tampa by storm, punctuated by legions of Buccaneer fans, most of them without a mask, celebrating their hometown victory when the Super Bowl finished.
“Whenever I see oversized events like this, yes, it scares me,” said Mark Zeitlin, a 70-year-old man from Boynton Beach, Florida, who took the two photos. “It’s not just Tampa. It is happening everywhere. “
Glenn Charnizon, a 66-year-old man from Delray Beach, Florida, who also received both doses, said he and his wife are not going out to dinner, traveling or going to the supermarket for “very, very long.”
“Just because we were vaccinated doesn’t mean we can’t get COVID,” said Charinzon. “We are not going to take any risks until 70 to 80 percent of the population is vaccinated.”
Meanwhile, the Biden White House is considering new restrictions on domestic travel with huge implications in Florida, which accounts for more than a third of all documented cases of the B-117 variant in the United States, also known as the highly contagious variant. from UK. The researchers are also monitoring any outbreak in Florida of other variants from Brazil and South Africa that have been found elsewhere in the United States, but not – officially – in the State of the Sun.
DeSantis’ response was to punish reporters for allegedly minimizing the dangers of the coronavirus from social justice protests and celebrations of Biden’s electoral victory over Donald Trump, adopting a defiant tone in relation to any travel restrictions. At a news conference on Thursday, DeSantis said: “We will oppose 100 percent. It would not be based on science. It would be purely a political attack on the people of Florida. ” A spokesman for the governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment via email.
The elderly people who spoke to The Daily Beast said that DeSantis was deliberately obtuse in what goes on here to contain the pandemic. “The governor of this state is out of control,” said Charnizon. Krinick, the legal secretary, added: “DeSantis? He’s not a fan. I don’t think he’s doing anything. “
To be sure, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, recently said that taking both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine is the best way to stay ahead of the new mutant variants. And Dr. Mary Jo Trepka, professor of infectious diseases at Florida International University, told The Daily Beast that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are highly effective in preventing infectious diseases – including when it comes to the UK variant.
Still, given the basic limitations of any vaccine and the proliferation of variant cases in a state that stood out for its pandemic absurdity, Floridians cannot give up anytime soon.
“It is possible that people who received the second dose could still catch the virus,” said Trepka. “They can be asymptomatic and infectious. But we are very concerned about the appearance of more variants, because we can get one where vaccines don’t work. “
‘Nobody’s thinking about COVID’: get ready for the Super Bowl oversize
Due to the high degree of spread across the community in Florida, vaccines alone will not end the pandemic, she argued – even though vaccines have been DeSantis’ only strategy lately.
“Even if you are one of those who received the full doses, you are still close to many people who have not been vaccinated,” she said. “We need people wearing masks, doing physical distance and avoiding large crowds. Many people are following him religiously and many are not. “
Fear and anger at the dangers that arise even after vaccination are not limited to the elderly. DeSantis prioritized above virtually everyone else. In the labor and delivery department at Northshore Medical Center in North Miami, health workers who have been fully vaccinated are still on guard, said a nurse who requested anonymity because she was not authorized by the hospital to speak to the media.
“Because of the new variants and people not being safe, I still wear a mask when I go out and I still don’t go to family events because I know I can’t trust some family members who are on the street and not taking the necessary precautions,” he said. Is it over there.
The dire reality that Florida is a living petri dish for coronavirus mutations means that elderly people like Carla Golembe will continue to isolate themselves, even though she has had both vaccines.
“The variants are scary,” the 67-year-old artist from Delray Beach, Florida, told The Daily Beast. “We don’t know much about them. Just when we think we are beginning to understand this virus, there are now more obstacles. “
In two weeks, once her body has acquired full immunity, the only important exit she has planned is a trip to the dentist, she said.
“Maybe on a quiet afternoon, I go to the grocery store, with a double mask,” she said. “I hope that my husband, who also had both vaccines, and I can meet with other friends who have been fully vaccinated. We want to go out again, but from a distance and outdoors, of course. “
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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