Sandy Klein looks forward to her European Cruise next month. At 78, she considers herself healthy. Still the Palm Beach resident wonders if she should get a COVID booster before her trip.
“I don’t want to spend my vacation sick — or worse, in the hospital,” she said.
This summer travel season has been forecasted to be one for the record books, and with so many people on the move, the risk of getting COVID-19 rises.
COVID still is circulating and people do seem to be picking up the virus during travel. However, for most people who get COVID now, the symptoms are more like a bad cold or flu, doctors say. Still, those symptoms — fever, aches, sore throat and cough — are enough to ruin a trip or force you to miss a family reunion.
Most people have some level of immunity, either from a shot or the virus itself. So is worth getting a COVID booster?
How to decide whether to get boosted
Let your activity over the summer months guide your strategy, along with your age and health, doctors say.
“It’s really a matter of how much risk you are willing to take because there is still COVID out there,” said Dr. Sergio Segarra, chief medical officer at Baptist Health’s Baptist Hospital in Kendall.
Segarra says only about 4% to 8% of patients in his hospital are there for COVID, but none are in the intensive care. He says the immunity gained from vaccination and prior infection seems to have lessened the severity of the disease for most people.
“But if you have health issues or are over 50 you might want to get the booster,” he said. “Also, it depends on where you are going. Airports are congested and cruise ships are close quarters. If you are going to a remote place, that’s different. For most people who are traveling, if you don’t want to spend a few days feeling miserable, I would recommend it.”
Immunity wears off
Booster uptake has been low in Florida — only 11.7% of all ages have received one, according to data from the Centers for…
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