WAUTOMA, WI (WTAQ) – After navigating a year through a pandemic, many families are looking to safely bring some normalcy back to their lives. A family tradition for many is planning a summer vacation.
As vaccinations increase and CDC guidelines continue to seem more optimistic, people are packing up to hit the beach, a national park, or even Disneyland.
“Definitely try to enjoy what you can, but we’ve got to make sure that we do things in an intelligent and common-sense way,” said Dr. Long Nguyen, a Family Medicine Physician at ThedaCare Physicians-Wautoma.
According to the new guidelines from the CDC, fully vaccinated travelers are less likely to get and spread COVID-19 and can travel safely within the United States. But there are still some precautions people can take.
“You don’t know who you’re going to come in contact with or whether they’ve been vaccinated, so a mask is always recommended,” Nguyen said. “It’s recommended that you try to focus on outdoor vacations. Camping, amusement parks, and things like that would be ideal…If you’re going to do an indoor vacation, such as a resort or hotel, you want to make sure that you stay within your family unit. Try to avoid other family units, especially if you don’t know what their vaccination status is.”
The CDC says fully vaccinated travelers do not need to get tested before or after travel unless their destination or airline requires it, and they do not need to self-quarantine. The CDC
website offers a travel planner with the latest health recommendations for where you’re planning to travel. It can be found here.
“The majority, if not all of the airports are still requiring all travelers to wear a mask. But if you are vaccinated, then the restrictions are a little looser in terms of if you need a pre-test or not, and then if you need to quarantine,” Nguyen told WTAQ News. “If you’re unvaccinated, it is recommended that you get tested prior to travel, about one to 3 days. Then when you come back, either quarantining yourself for 7 to 14 days or getting another COVID test 3 to 5 days after travel…That’s why we’re urging, from the medical field here, for as many people to get vaccinated as possible. It will help in the short term and also in the long term for everyone to get back to normalcy.”
Anyone in need of scheduling a COVID-19 vaccination can log into their MyThedaCare account or in the Ripple by ThedaCare app, and select a time and location to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Comments