"We thought we were safe at a concert that required COVID vaccines. We were wrong."
As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I wanted to take them back -- scoop them up and stuff them away like they'd never existed.
It was in early September. Just days before attending our first indoor concert together since the pandemic started, my friend Kim asked if I was nervous about going.
"No, I'm not," I answered, without hesitation. "Everyone has to be vaccinated or test negative so I think it'll be fine."
But as soon as I said it, it felt like an omen -- something that could completely turn on its head and I'd want to kick myself for it later (like when a colleague asked if I was nervous at all about "this COVID stuff" in early 2020 and I said no. I clearly have an attuned sense of foreboding.)
The concert was a blast. I'd forgotten how fun it is to experience live music with an audience, swaying to the beat and singing together.
But 90% of our fellow concert-goers -- all required to either be fully vaccinated or show negative test results before the show -- were unmasked. Our group, the four of us, Kim, me, and our husbands, wore masks but you could almost see sweat flying through the air as people danced and jumped around. I was relieved when we left.
Six days later, my husband -- who is fully vaccinated -- started to get what he thought were allergies. He felt rundown and stuffy. We decided he should get a COVID test to be on safe side. It came back positive.
"I'm so sorry," he said to me in the middle of the night as I stood in the hallway in disbelief and he lay in bed after his results came back.
I was sorry, too -- sorry he was sick, sorry we potentially exposed other people to COVID, and sorry that suddenly our kids would have to be out of school for more than a week because we chose to go a concert.
heathline.com, data so far suggests the Moderna vaccine is approximately 50 to 95 percent effective against the delta variant, and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 39 to 96 percent effective against it. My husband tested positive almost six months to the day after our second dose of the Moderna vaccine.
Still, even if we wanted a booster, we couldn't get one because there isn't one available yet for the Moderna vaccine and we don't qualify.
But our symptoms are mild because we are vaccinated at all -- period. I can't imagine having the option to only get mildly sick with a vaccine or really sick without one and deciding really sick is the better choice.
So here we are. We took chances. We wore masks but went to an indoor concert. But it could be so much worse.
On Saturday, my 10-day quarantine ends. I'll emerge with a new appreciation for being able to leave my house, health, loved ones and friends, who've done a ton during the past two weeks to help us with food and other groceries
We're the lucky ones. But will I go to a concert again soon? Unless masks are strictly required, along with vaccines, no way.
Juggling Act: We thought we were safe at a concert that required COVID vaccines. We were wrong.
As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I wanted to take them back -- scoop them up and stuff them away like they'd never existed.
It was in early September. Just days before attending our first indoor concert together since the pandemic started, my friend Kim asked if I was nervous about going.
"No, I'm not," I answered, without hesitation. "Everyone has to be vaccinated or test negative so I think it'll be fine."
But as soon as I said it, it felt like an omen -- something that could completely turn on its head and I'd want to kick myself for it later (like when a colleague asked if I was nervous at all about "this COVID stuff" in early 2020 and I said no. I clearly have an attuned sense of foreboding.)
The concert was a blast. I'd forgotten how fun it is to experience live music with an audience, swaying to the beat and singing together.
But 90% of our fellow concert-goers -- all required to either be fully vaccinated or show negative test results before the show -- were unmasked. Our group, the four of us, Kim, me, and our husbands, wore masks but you could almost see sweat flying through the air as people danced and jumped around. I was relieved when we left.
Six days later, my husband -- who is fully vaccinated -- started to get what he thought were allergies. He felt rundown and stuffy. We decided he should get a COVID test to be on safe side. It came back positive.
"I'm so sorry," he said to me in the middle of the night as I stood in the hallway in disbelief and he lay in bed after his results came back.
I was sorry, too -- sorry he was sick, sorry we potentially exposed other people to COVID, and sorry that suddenly our kids would have to be out of school for more than a week because we chose to go a concert.
heathline.com, data so far suggests the Moderna vaccine is approximately 50 to 95 percent effective against the delta variant, and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 39 to 96 percent effective against it. My husband tested positive almost six months to the day after our second dose of the Moderna vaccine.
Still, even if we wanted a booster, we couldn't get one because there isn't one available yet for the Moderna vaccine and we don't qualify.
But our symptoms are mild because we are vaccinated at all -- period. I can't imagine having the option to only get mildly sick with a vaccine or really sick without one and deciding really sick is the better choice.
So here we are. We took chances. We wore masks but went to an indoor concert. But it could be so much worse.
On Saturday, my 10-day quarantine ends. I'll emerge with a new appreciation for being able to leave my house, health, loved ones and friends, who've done a ton during the past two weeks to help us with food and other groceries
We're the lucky ones. But will I go to a concert again soon? Unless masks are strictly required, along with vaccines, no way.
Juggling Act: We thought we were safe at a concert that required COVID vaccines. We were wrong.
