What does New Year’s Eve mean to you, a time of reflection, resolutions, a chance for a new beginning, renewed covenant with God and each other?
If you are like me, you feel a variety of emotions. This New Year’s Eve is our second in which the pandemic is surging however this year we have the tools to reduce our risk of getting and transmitting the COVID-19 virus.
 
Most importantly, if you are eligible, get vaccinated. Get a booster shot if it has been 6 months since your second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or 2 months since your J & J vaccine. This will boost your waning immune response and help prevent severe illness, hospitalization, and death.
 
Wear a well-fitting mask when indoors whether you are vaccinated or not in areas of high transmission. Consider using a KN95 or N95 mask instead of a cloth mask in crowded spaces. Avoid crowds and do not visit others if you do not feel well. Get tested with either a rapid, home test or a PCR test if you have been exposed or feel ill. Wash your hands!
 
Enjoy ringing in the New Year, go ahead and celebrate, but do it with fewer fully vaccinated and boosted loved ones. “When you are talking about a New Year’s Eve party, where you have 30, 40, 50 people celebrating, you do not know the status of the vaccination — I would recommend strongly, stay away from that this year,” Fauci told CNN. “There will be other years to do that, but not this year.”
 
Check your state public health guidance for details about gathering in your area. Connecticut is distributing masks and test kits for 500,000 people later this week through the Health Districts and schools. Residents in Connecticut can access their vaccine record via https://ctwiz.dph.ct.gov. Massachusetts recommends masking for all indoors.  Rhode Island has recommendations for gatherings of greater or less than 250 people that include masking and proof of vaccination. Vaccine records will be accessible in Rhode Island via this link when the site is repaired. https://covid.ri.gov/public/portal.ri.gov/VaccineRecord.
 
There is hope, light at the end of the tunnel even though the tunnel is long. If we all work together and abide in faith following the advice of healthcare experts we will slow the spread of the virus, we will reduce the number of new variants and resume life with more freedom.
 
I offer this prayer for the New Year written by Daniel J. McGill,
published in All will Be Well: A Gathering of Healing Prayers, edited by Lyn Klug
 
May the pain of our loss
--Increase the fire of our love
May the pain of our guilt
--Ignite the flame of mercy in us
May the pain of our mistakes
-- Light for us the path to wisdom
May the pain of our hatreds
--Awaken us to compassion
May the pain of our limitations
--Enkindle in us understanding
May the pain of our regrets
--Shine forth in forgiveness
                                                            Daniel J. McGill
 
 
 
Here is a helpful chart from the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation-quarantine-guidance.html 
www.CDC.gov   updates December 27, 2021

~Debbie