SALT LAKE CITY — The pandemic has compelled Utah households to make tough choices about gathering for the vacations, vital occasions, and long-awaited journeys. The extremely transmissible omicron variant is simply the newest curveball.
A Utah mom talked Friday about powerful choices she’s made to maintain her household protected, whereas nonetheless attempting to get pleasure from life.
The Keddington household is lastly having fun with a trip they’d canceled 3 times. However, not with out quite a lot of second guessing.
“We’re on Oahu, and that’s our view from our room,” Angela Keddington stated in a Zoom interview from her resort room, overlooking the ocean.
She and her household arrived in Hawaii Wednesday for a protracted overdue commencement celebration for considered one of her daughters.
“Everyone in my household is as protected as we might be,” she stated.
Angela is a nurse, so that they didn’t make the choice flippantly. Her household follows medical steering from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
Two months in the past, they feared they must cancel their journey once more. However, when their boys, ages seven and 10, have been absolutely vaccinated by Thanksgiving, they determined they may journey safely.
“It meant quite a bit to me,” Angela stated. “It meant that we may return to normalcy. Sadly, omicron was proper on the heels of our littlest individuals having the ability to be vaccinated, which is satirically annoying.”
She stated she had blended feelings till they arrived, however she’s snug with the stringent security protocols in Hawaii.
“This has simply gone on for therefore lengthy, you recognize. We’ve performed all the pieces we will do, and since we’ve performed all the pieces we will do, we determined to return on our journey.”
So, they’re taking all precautions to attenuate the danger of catching COVID-19 whereas touring.
“The distancing, masking, washing your fingers, vaccinating, boosting — everyone knows all these issues now. I really feel like these issues, coupled with the place we have been coming, does assist weigh the dangers to know that we might be protected, and that we wouldn’t overburden our healthcare employees, and that we may do that safely.”
The epidemiologists have alerted us to know our particular person danger with COVID.
This household has been cautious each step of the best way. They’re now testing how properly these defenses work.
“A few days in the past, I used to be questioning whether or not we should always have canceled. However, now that we’re right here, no regrets in any respect,” Angela stated.
