Over 72 million people in the US have already been vaccinated for Covid-19. With many of us joining those ranks in the coming weeks and months, knowing what this new "normal" will mean is going to be important.
Over 72 million people in the US have already been vaccinated for Covid-19. With many of us joining those ranks in the coming weeks and months, knowing what this new “normal” will mean is going to be important for yourself as an agent, and for your clients, who may have been avoiding in-person events and gatherings for the last year.
After a tumultuous 2020, everybody deserves some normalcy. However, safeguarding yourself and those around you is still critical.
Have questions about COVID-19? Check out our helpcenter for agents.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people are considered completely vaccinated two weeks after receiving a one-dose vaccine or two weeks after the second dose in a two-dose vaccine sequence.
For the vaccines with two doses, such as Pfizer and Moderna, individuals are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the second dose. Single-dose vaccines, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine, make you fully vaccinated two weeks after the vaccine.
You are not completely vaccinated if you do not meet these criteria and should continue to take all necessary precautions until you are fully vaccinated.
Before you start hugging strangers or removing all of your masks, remember that there are still many unknowns in the world. Experts suggest that you continue to follow mask and distancing recommendations in public until the majority of the population has the chance to get vaccinated.
What does this mean for real estate? Open houses are likely to remain small and distant for the time being. Don’t throw away that email list just yet either – We’ve still got a ways to go before we can start organizing large-scale meetups.
When in a public space, continue to wear a mask, keep a safe distance from others, and wash your hands frequently. Although the vaccines have shown to be effective in preventing COVID-19 symptoms, it is unknown to what extent vaccinated people can still spread the virus. As a result, it’s critical to stick to the rules until we know more.
We don’t know how long immunity remains, either. Again, more data is needed to be sure, and this information will aid the development of updated public health guidelines.
People who have been completely vaccinated, according to the CDC, can:
⦁ Meet indoors, without masks or physical separation.
⦁ Interact with other completely vaccinated individuals.
⦁ Visit with un-vaccinated individuals from a single household who are at low risk for COVID-19 disease.
If anyone you intend to meet has been fully vaccinated, the possibility of someone contracting a disease is minimal. Meeting with high-risk people who are not vaccinated is not recommended.
This means face-to-face meetings with potential buyers and sellers aren’t off the table. The important thing is to be respectful of your clients’ concerns and make sure they’re comfortable getting together to discuss business.
The CDC legislation allows for domestic travel without a COVID-19 examination or quarantine interval if you are fully vaccinated, which means you have waited two weeks after your final vaccine shot.
Travelers should continue to wear masks, keep a safe distance between themselves and others, and wash their hands regularly. It’s also worth looking into different travel destinations, especially foreign destinations, to see the local community’s progress to contain the virus.
According to the CDC, a quarantine period is unnecessary for fully vaccinated individuals who spent time around anyone who tested positive for COVID-19.
If you’ve had all of your vaccinations and are still having COVID-19 symptoms, you can isolate yourself and consult your doctor to see if you need testing.
If you’re vaccinated and don’t have any symptoms, there’s no need to quarantine or isolate yourself because the risk of infection is low. You should keep an eye on yourself for 14 days and call your doctor if any symptoms appear.
By sticking to the rules and making sure you’re acting appropriately while you’re out in public, we can all finally start to enjoy ourselves again. But, if we start taking our masks off prematurely, the statistics will begin to climb, then all of the things we’ve been allowed the opportunity to do so far will have to be taken away.
Taking precautions will ensure that everyone stays healthy and that we don’t go back to old patterns.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult on everyone, but no group has been more impacted than senior citizens. Those 65 years old were hit the hardest, and the fasted from the onset of the pandemic.
As the world adjusts to the virus, seniors have had to face the hardest mortality rates and hospitalization rates of any other age group.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, seniors over 85 are twice as likely as youths to contract COVID-19. However, seniors are significantly more likely to require hospitalization.
The older the patient, the more likely to die from COVID-19. This startling contrast shows how COVID-19 has disproportionately affected seniors. The COVID-19 virus is far more threatening to seniors, who must take extra precautions for their own safety and survival.
Unfortunately, a new Danish study suggests that seniors who already face disproportionate effects from COVID-19 infections may be at an increased risk of reinfection.
Danish scientists studied the infection rates of those who tested positive between September through December 2020 and compared those tests with people infected between March and May 2020. Out of 11,068 positive cases from March through May, only 72 tested positive again during September through December.
The study suggested that those who were 65 or older had a 47% rate of protection against repeat infection, but the younger group had an approximate 80% protection against reinfection.
The data from the CDC and other studies have clearly shown that risk to seniors from COVID-19 is far more significant than to younger age groups. The CDC reported that the United States has been successful in its vaccination rollout.
As of April 16, 2021, 64.6% of the U.S. population over the age of 65 has been fully vaccinated, and 80.4% has had at least one vaccine dose. The vaccines are a welcome relief for seniors who have been the most at risk from this virus.
As an agent, you’ll no doubt be working closely with many people over the coming months, and depending on your area, some of them may be seniors. As with everyone, be sure to be respectful of your clients’ wishes, and flexible depending on their particular situation.
Keeping your clients happy and healthy is the first step to establishing a long-term relationship that will benefit you both.
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