NEW YORK (Reuters) – Just two weeks after receiving her second vaccine against COVID-19, Sylvia Baer spent the day doing an eye exam, getting her nails done and buying groceries at Whole Foods – a schedule that 12 months ago would have been absolutely normal .
However, the 71-year-old university professor found herself on the verge of tears, everywhere, in the ophthalmologist’s office – the first time in almost a year that she entered a building that was not her own home for more than a moment .
“I was very happy,” she said, remembering how exciting it was to walk into her supermarket again in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “I came out with five different desserts and three different types of olives.”
Across the United States, COVID-19 vaccinations are changing the daily lives of the elderly in a big and small way a year after the pandemic drove many of the high-risk group into forced isolation. Older Americans are again visiting family members, eating at their favorite restaurants and shopping in stores without fear of death or hospitalization.
The emergence of potentially more virulent new variants of the coronavirus is causing some inoculated elderly people to return to their routines with caution. And the weight of so many deaths among their peers, plus the psychological burden that accompanied the quarantine months, will not dissipate overnight.
This week, Linda Dobrusin, 80, will welcome three friends – all of whom have also been vaccinated – to her home in Southfield, Michigan, to restart a weekly cannabis card game that has been waiting since last spring.
The occasion is bittersweet for Dobrusin, who lost a longtime friend to COVID-19 last year. The pandemic made a proper funeral impossible, so she watched the small funeral service by video.
“It is hard to believe that a year has passed, but it seems like an eternity,” said Dobrusin.
For many seniors, the vaccine’s biggest advantage is allowing them to see relatives again after missing marriages, births, graduations and holidays. Older Americans in particular, who often face health risks beyond the pandemic, deeply felt the loss of a full calendar year.
Sharon Halper, 76, is scheduled to receive the second of two shots in mid-March. Two weeks after that – when the researchers say the full effect of the vaccine has been achieved – she plans to prepare a large meal and invite her grandchildren to dinner at her home in Warwick, New York, including one who was recently engaged.
She plans to re-celebrate all the missed holidays, starting with Hanukah and working her way back on the calendar.
“I can’t wait to hug you again,” said Halper, whose husband, David, celebrated his 80th birthday at Zoom.
Lonnie Hanauer, 85, and his wife, Bette, are leaving their home in West Orange, New Jersey this week and flying to Florida to visit their daughter, who they haven’t seen since Thanksgiving in 2019. The holiday Thanksgiving last year was the first the couple spent alone, without their children, in more than half a century.
“When you get older, you don’t know how many more,” he said.
WORLD BECOMES MOMENT
Even mundane activities took on new meaning for vaccinated elderly people.
In the Pennswood Village retirement community in Newtown, Pennsylvania, people can now sit in groups of four at indoor tables and have face-to-face conversations.
Resident Judy Yaskin, 79, expects dinner to resume in the coming weeks – there is no more food in brown bags consumed alone in her apartment – and events such as lecture series and films may also return.
“Who knew lunch could look so exciting?” she said.
Some elderly people are maintaining certain prohibited activities, either because of uncertainty about the effectiveness of vaccines or because of persistent doubts after a year of worry and fear.
“I’m not going to see a movie theater or a covered restaurant,” said Arlene Schimmel, a 70-year-old New Yorker. She said she would visit only friends who were also vaccinated.
Caution remains necessary, experts say, as scientists are still studying the effectiveness of vaccines against coronavirus variants.
It is also unclear whether vaccinated individuals can still transmit the infection to others, which is why, for now, even those who received the vaccines must continue to wear masks and practice social detachment in public.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for vaccinated individuals on Monday, saying they can safely meet indoors without masks in small groups, but must still wear masks in public and avoid large gatherings.
About 60 million Americans, or 18.1% of the population, received at least one dose of the vaccine by Monday, according to data from the CDC. Almost 55% of these individuals were 65 or older.
Jessica Justman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, said some people may be confused by the double messages from public health experts: vaccines protect against serious illnesses, but the need for safety measures remains critical.
But she said the new coronavirus remains that way, with researchers still learning more each day.
For many older Americans, vaccines, however, ended up with a feeling of anxiety that had become so ingrained that they did not understand how deep it had grown.
“You don’t realize it until you see the finish line,” said Halper. “You have to continue; you cannot allow yourself to collapse. Once the lid starts to come off, it is as if the steam comes out of the pan suddenly. “
Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Daniel Wallis