[Los Angeles, CA] The first part of the year is usually a busy time for me. Recovering from the holidays and starting new initiatives take focus to successfully execute. Even though I am retired I usually have a busy schedule and had committed to being part of the 2020 Census team. Training was to start in early March but in late January there was news about this flu-like disease spreading in Asia. Like a wildfire the disease spread internationally and people were warned to take precautions. By the time training started in Los Angeles on March 16th things appeared normal but news of the disease was escalating by the minute. Three days into training a pandemic was officially declared. Our group was immediately shut down and told to shelter in place and await further instructions.
Like many people I was not aware of Covid and while I knew I would need to be more cautious I was not too worried because of my overall health condition. We live in a family-oriented environment known as the “Harvard Compound.” We came together and mapped out a strategy in making sure we adhered to health protocols as well as developing a plan on how we could navigate with errands and other measures which required us to leave home.
To be vaccinated or not?
Once it became apparent a vaccine would be available, I never had any question on whether I would take it or not. For me, the data was clear and all I had to do was look at the number of deaths, which at that time was over 300,000 in the United States! As mentioned, being a person who treasures life there was never any question in getting vaccinated. It was more of when my group was eligible? As a person over the age of 65 my eligibility came around pretty quickly. I didn’t worry about any ancillary issues or discussions being bantered about regarding the legitimacy of the vaccine. It was very simple – “better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.” In early February 2021 I opted to get my vaccine at Dodger Stadium because it was defined as a mega-site plus it was only six miles from my residence. The process was very organized and from start to finish it took approximately 2 hours per dose.
The bottom-line
Having the vaccine is not a cure-all but it gives you the peace of mind in protecting yourself. We still practice safety and limit unnecessary exposure, especially to those who are not vaccinated. Also, we have traveled internationally and even though we are vaccinated we had to do mandatory testing. Maybe we are just lucky or blessed but everyone in our family is vaccinated and we have not experienced any adverse effects.
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Originally published on ThomasReports.org.
