The COVID-19 Task force is composed of medical professionals and Care Team members. We meet via zoom every Saturday afternoon to discuss ways to best prepare during the pandemic.
UUFSMA COVID-19 Taskforce Update March 15, 2021
We expect the Vaccination Brigades in SMA very soon, and you will all receive an email - from us - about details as soon as they are available. Disregard rumors, please! According to our friends at the Covid19SMA group, you will need some paperwork (registration number, proof of address, passport & visa, printed copy of CURP number) – and you should probably be prepared to wait in line, so bring your mask, water, snacks, sunscreen, a parasol, maybe even a folding chair.
If we’re offered a two-dose vaccine, which is most likely, remember that your protection will not start right away, so you need to continue all the usual precautions. You will have some immunity after about two weeks, but you need the second shot, and then two more weeks, before you can be considered “fully vaccinated.” And when we are fully vaccinated, we need to remember that this is not a “Get Out of Jail Free” card! In Mexico and elsewhere, almost all the folks around us under the age of 60 will not be vaccinated yet … the working folks everywhere we go, and probably our household help too. So, most trips out of the house will still need careful attention to precautions. The risks still go both ways: we can still catch Covid-19 after we’ve been vaccinated, although it will likely be mild or asymptomatic. We might catch a variant for which our vaccine doesn’t give such good protection. We might be able to spread it to others in that situation – and there are a lot of unvaccinated folks whom we might infect.
The CDC now says it’s safe for fully vaccinated people to visit together in private homes, in small groups – it will be ok to take off our masks, even to hug! It’s also ok for fully vaccinated people (like grandparents) to visit with members of one household of unvaccinated people (like healthy but unvaccinated children and grandchildren) provided no one in the that household is at risk for severe COVID.
Here’s a test question for you: When you’re fully vaccinated, does that mean your household helper can come to your house and no one needs masks? Answer: It depends … If someone in her household is at risk for severe COVID (her sister might be pregnant, or her mother has diabetes, or her grandfather is 75), then you all should still mask and distance, to protect those people. And whenever there are more unvaccinated people around, or bigger groups, we all need to continue full-tilt protection -- wearing our masks, distancing, hand-washing, and maintaining good ventilation. The CDC still considers restaurants, gyms, and travel to be risky situations, needing full protection.
Remember, we are all part of the interdependent web. If we all stay mindful and careful, we will protect ourselves and each other!