Selected Podcast
Tips for Safe Travel As Pandemic Restrictions Ease
Pandemic restrictions are easing and many of us are eager to get out and travel. Here is some advice on keeping you and you traveling companions safe.
Featured Speaker:
Jordan Michelena, MD
Dr. Jordan Michelena is a family medicine physician at Henry Mayo Newhall Urgent Care. Transcription:
Intro: It's Your Health Radio, a special podcast series presented by Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Here's Melanie Cole.
Melanie Cole: If you're like me, you can't wait to start traveling again, but there are things that we do need to know as these restrictions start to lift. Welcome to It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
I'm Melanie Cole and we're talking about safe travel as pandemic restrictions ease. Joining me is Dr. Jordan Michelena. He's a family medicine physician and a member of the medical staff at Henry Mayo Newhall Urgent Care.
Dr. Michelena, it's a pleasure to have you join us again today. So, as these restrictions are easing and people are getting vaccinated, we're learning so much more. Tell us a little bit about how long after receiving the vaccine, the second vaccine, that we're considered immune because now we're even hearing new news coming out every day. Tell us a little bit about the immune system, the vaccine, and when we can sort of feel a little bit more at ease.
Dr. Jordan Michelena: Okay. So as you know, there are a few vaccines out. Pfizer and Moderna are the ones that I'm more familiar with. And with those, typically your immune response is going to take about a week to two weeks to develop a full immunity after the second shot. And so at that point, you would consider yourself fairly well-protected. The number's not quite 100%, but 95% to 99% protection that, given the low infectivity rate of COVID itself, makes you pretty well-protected.
Melanie Cole: So protocols are confusing for some people right now. Do we wear masks, even if we've been vaccinated? Do we still want to avoid crowded indoor areas? Because we don't know who else has been vaccinated.
Dr. Jordan Michelena: Right. You want to make sure that you're protecting yourself and using common sense, right? So, if you're out by yourself, going for a walk in a park or something, then feel free, you don't need to wear a mask. If you're not around somebody who looks sick or has COVID or has COVID-like symptoms and you're out in the open, we know that the infectivity rate is low at that point.
But if you're going to be in a crowded room with other people, you don't know whether they're vaccinated, they don't know if you're vaccinated, then at that point, you would want to wear a mask. You want to protect yourself and protect other people from catching the virus. Just because you're vaccinated does not mean you can't catch it. It just hopefully means that you're not going to get a severe disease process and you're not going to be able to infect other people, hopefully.
Melanie Cole: That certainly is the hope. I'm getting my second shot in about a week, so I'm looking forward to that. Now, if we've been vaccinated, we decide to travel, what do you want us to keep in mind, Dr. Michelena? And you can start with like family vacations, because a lot of situations, the kids are not vaccinated, the adults are hopefully. What do we think about when we start to travel? Whether we're traveling by car or plane, what do you want us to know?
Dr. Jordan Michelena: Right. So, as with any precautions, it's all about protecting yourself and protecting other people. And especially if you're going to go see family, and those are people that are very precious to you and you want to protect them, right? And so you're going to do everything you can to be prepared to protect them.
So one of those things would be to get vaccinated, right? And so that we know vaccines work from extensive decades of vaccination with measles, mumps, the flu, COVID now. We know that they do work. And so that would be the step number one, is if you're eligible to get vaccinated, which in the state of California, everyone is now eligible to get their vaccine. So I encourage everyone to get it who is eligible and who's within the age groups. And we know that kids are not eligible to get them. So we want to be extra careful about protecting them, right? So get vaccinated would be number one.
Number two would be wear your mask if you're going to be in a public area before you go travel, because you don't want to necessarily expose your family and friends to COVID. Then, the other thing would be hand-washing, right? So you want to wash your hands. And, if you're vaccinated, you're a little bit safer with this, but wash your hands with contact with things that you think may be COVID-related, especially if you're around people that look sick or something along those lines.
When you do travel, you want to make sure that, you know, you're safe about it as well. Try to keep your distance from other people that you don't know. If you're having to travel on the plane, this makes it more difficult, but try to keep your distance at the airports. Try to arrive in a timely manner, but don't show up too early to where you would be unnecessarily exposing yourself.
And then make sure that your family is taking those very similar precautions because, if you're visiting family somewhere else, you don't spend that time with them that you do with your close family. And so that is one way that we do spread the diseases, is that people may overlook taking those precautions in the desire to be able to spend time with family.
Melanie Cole: So you mentioned hand-washing, which is obvious and for not only COVID, but really everything, but we're learning more about COVID in surfaces and this is evolving. So if we do decide to travel, I mean, remember we were wiping down our groceries. Are we still wiping down the seat on the airplane? Are we still doing all of those things? What do we do now?
Dr. Jordan Michelena: Yes. The airline staff is most likely doing those things, I would imagine. If you wanted to be extra cautious, you could wipe down the hard surfaces. Those are going to be the most amenable to sanitizers or wipes and those types of things, and so the tray in front of you, the arm rests; if you're on a window seat, maybe the window rest where people sometimes like to lay their head against it. Those things would be more amenable to wipes.
And then be careful not to touch your face, if you do touch something else. That is a good way to transmit things, is when you put your fingers to your mouth or your nose. And so keeping yourself from doing that, breaking that habit if you have it, that would be a good way to prevent from catching COVID and spreading it to others.
Melanie Cole: And I know we're talking about travel and I want to get back to that in a second, but parents are also thinking about summer camps right now and they're, you know, already doing sign-ups. Do we wait to see if our kids get vaccinated? Or can we go ahead and sign them up? I mean, this kind of involves summer and vacations and that sort of thing. Can you tell us anything about that, doctor?
Dr. Jordan Michelena: Right. Yeah. What I would recommend is that every parent just look at their child and know, A, have you been exposed or has your child been exposed to COVID in the last seven to 10 days? And then are they having any cold-like symptoms, any flu-like symptoms, and COVID- like symptoms? If that's the case, even though you may have already paid for summer camp or something like that, I would look to try to keep them home from it because, by you doing that, you're protecting other kids.
Then, I know that there are a lot of athletic programs that are testing for COVID before they allow their children to participate in those sports. I know that a lot of the Hart District Schools are doing that. And I know that College of the Canyons is also having their athletes tested on a regular basis. And so I would encourage you to look for maybe a summer camp that will have the kids tested before they send them or allow them to come into the facilities or to the camp.
Melanie Cole: That's a great point and a good idea for parents. Dr. Michelina, give us some great advice on where we can travel. I mean, do you think it's safe now to go flying? Is it better to travel by car? What do you want us to know about safe travel? What do you think is some of the most important advice you could give us right now?
Dr. Jordan Michelena: So, with travel, the less exposure you have to people who are outside of your immediate contact group, then the less exposure you would have to potential COVID. And so traveling obviously has always been something that has been of increased risk for spreading of any disease, whether that's COVID now or bird or swine flus in the past or Ebola as we, you know, had experienced a few years ago.
So air travel is probably the more risky type of travel. If you could, and you're close enough and it's not too much of a hindrance, then traveling by car to visit your family would be a better situation. If it's too far, then meet halfway, and spend a vacation somewhere. Those would be the better options for you.
And then obviously, like I had said before, you just make sure that if somebody does appear sick or has been around somebody who has been sick or if you suspect that there's COVID, you may just want to postpone those get-togethers by a week. You don't always have to celebrate the birthday on the birthday. You don't always have to celebrate holidays when everyone else celebrates holidays. You can celebrate those at your own given time. The important thing is when you're getting together with the people that you love, getting together with the people that you care about, and those are the things that are more important.
Melanie Cole: And definitely staying safe and getting our vaccinations, but those are all really good points. And thank you so much, Dr. Michelena, for being with us today. And if you want to be tested for COVID-19 before you travel or just have a general checkup, you can always visit HenryMayoUrgentCare.com to schedule your appointment.
That concludes this episode of It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Share this show with your friends and family on your social channels. We're learning from the experts at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital together.
And yes, we all want to get out and travel. We all want to see our loved ones, but we just need to take precautions. We need to get vaccinated, we need to be safe and we need to keep others safe in our communities as well. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Intro: It's Your Health Radio, a special podcast series presented by Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Here's Melanie Cole.
Melanie Cole: If you're like me, you can't wait to start traveling again, but there are things that we do need to know as these restrictions start to lift. Welcome to It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
I'm Melanie Cole and we're talking about safe travel as pandemic restrictions ease. Joining me is Dr. Jordan Michelena. He's a family medicine physician and a member of the medical staff at Henry Mayo Newhall Urgent Care.
Dr. Michelena, it's a pleasure to have you join us again today. So, as these restrictions are easing and people are getting vaccinated, we're learning so much more. Tell us a little bit about how long after receiving the vaccine, the second vaccine, that we're considered immune because now we're even hearing new news coming out every day. Tell us a little bit about the immune system, the vaccine, and when we can sort of feel a little bit more at ease.
Dr. Jordan Michelena: Okay. So as you know, there are a few vaccines out. Pfizer and Moderna are the ones that I'm more familiar with. And with those, typically your immune response is going to take about a week to two weeks to develop a full immunity after the second shot. And so at that point, you would consider yourself fairly well-protected. The number's not quite 100%, but 95% to 99% protection that, given the low infectivity rate of COVID itself, makes you pretty well-protected.
Melanie Cole: So protocols are confusing for some people right now. Do we wear masks, even if we've been vaccinated? Do we still want to avoid crowded indoor areas? Because we don't know who else has been vaccinated.
Dr. Jordan Michelena: Right. You want to make sure that you're protecting yourself and using common sense, right? So, if you're out by yourself, going for a walk in a park or something, then feel free, you don't need to wear a mask. If you're not around somebody who looks sick or has COVID or has COVID-like symptoms and you're out in the open, we know that the infectivity rate is low at that point.
But if you're going to be in a crowded room with other people, you don't know whether they're vaccinated, they don't know if you're vaccinated, then at that point, you would want to wear a mask. You want to protect yourself and protect other people from catching the virus. Just because you're vaccinated does not mean you can't catch it. It just hopefully means that you're not going to get a severe disease process and you're not going to be able to infect other people, hopefully.
Melanie Cole: That certainly is the hope. I'm getting my second shot in about a week, so I'm looking forward to that. Now, if we've been vaccinated, we decide to travel, what do you want us to keep in mind, Dr. Michelena? And you can start with like family vacations, because a lot of situations, the kids are not vaccinated, the adults are hopefully. What do we think about when we start to travel? Whether we're traveling by car or plane, what do you want us to know?
Dr. Jordan Michelena: Right. So, as with any precautions, it's all about protecting yourself and protecting other people. And especially if you're going to go see family, and those are people that are very precious to you and you want to protect them, right? And so you're going to do everything you can to be prepared to protect them.
So one of those things would be to get vaccinated, right? And so that we know vaccines work from extensive decades of vaccination with measles, mumps, the flu, COVID now. We know that they do work. And so that would be the step number one, is if you're eligible to get vaccinated, which in the state of California, everyone is now eligible to get their vaccine. So I encourage everyone to get it who is eligible and who's within the age groups. And we know that kids are not eligible to get them. So we want to be extra careful about protecting them, right? So get vaccinated would be number one.
Number two would be wear your mask if you're going to be in a public area before you go travel, because you don't want to necessarily expose your family and friends to COVID. Then, the other thing would be hand-washing, right? So you want to wash your hands. And, if you're vaccinated, you're a little bit safer with this, but wash your hands with contact with things that you think may be COVID-related, especially if you're around people that look sick or something along those lines.
When you do travel, you want to make sure that, you know, you're safe about it as well. Try to keep your distance from other people that you don't know. If you're having to travel on the plane, this makes it more difficult, but try to keep your distance at the airports. Try to arrive in a timely manner, but don't show up too early to where you would be unnecessarily exposing yourself.
And then make sure that your family is taking those very similar precautions because, if you're visiting family somewhere else, you don't spend that time with them that you do with your close family. And so that is one way that we do spread the diseases, is that people may overlook taking those precautions in the desire to be able to spend time with family.
Melanie Cole: So you mentioned hand-washing, which is obvious and for not only COVID, but really everything, but we're learning more about COVID in surfaces and this is evolving. So if we do decide to travel, I mean, remember we were wiping down our groceries. Are we still wiping down the seat on the airplane? Are we still doing all of those things? What do we do now?
Dr. Jordan Michelena: Yes. The airline staff is most likely doing those things, I would imagine. If you wanted to be extra cautious, you could wipe down the hard surfaces. Those are going to be the most amenable to sanitizers or wipes and those types of things, and so the tray in front of you, the arm rests; if you're on a window seat, maybe the window rest where people sometimes like to lay their head against it. Those things would be more amenable to wipes.
And then be careful not to touch your face, if you do touch something else. That is a good way to transmit things, is when you put your fingers to your mouth or your nose. And so keeping yourself from doing that, breaking that habit if you have it, that would be a good way to prevent from catching COVID and spreading it to others.
Melanie Cole: And I know we're talking about travel and I want to get back to that in a second, but parents are also thinking about summer camps right now and they're, you know, already doing sign-ups. Do we wait to see if our kids get vaccinated? Or can we go ahead and sign them up? I mean, this kind of involves summer and vacations and that sort of thing. Can you tell us anything about that, doctor?
Dr. Jordan Michelena: Right. Yeah. What I would recommend is that every parent just look at their child and know, A, have you been exposed or has your child been exposed to COVID in the last seven to 10 days? And then are they having any cold-like symptoms, any flu-like symptoms, and COVID- like symptoms? If that's the case, even though you may have already paid for summer camp or something like that, I would look to try to keep them home from it because, by you doing that, you're protecting other kids.
Then, I know that there are a lot of athletic programs that are testing for COVID before they allow their children to participate in those sports. I know that a lot of the Hart District Schools are doing that. And I know that College of the Canyons is also having their athletes tested on a regular basis. And so I would encourage you to look for maybe a summer camp that will have the kids tested before they send them or allow them to come into the facilities or to the camp.
Melanie Cole: That's a great point and a good idea for parents. Dr. Michelina, give us some great advice on where we can travel. I mean, do you think it's safe now to go flying? Is it better to travel by car? What do you want us to know about safe travel? What do you think is some of the most important advice you could give us right now?
Dr. Jordan Michelena: So, with travel, the less exposure you have to people who are outside of your immediate contact group, then the less exposure you would have to potential COVID. And so traveling obviously has always been something that has been of increased risk for spreading of any disease, whether that's COVID now or bird or swine flus in the past or Ebola as we, you know, had experienced a few years ago.
So air travel is probably the more risky type of travel. If you could, and you're close enough and it's not too much of a hindrance, then traveling by car to visit your family would be a better situation. If it's too far, then meet halfway, and spend a vacation somewhere. Those would be the better options for you.
And then obviously, like I had said before, you just make sure that if somebody does appear sick or has been around somebody who has been sick or if you suspect that there's COVID, you may just want to postpone those get-togethers by a week. You don't always have to celebrate the birthday on the birthday. You don't always have to celebrate holidays when everyone else celebrates holidays. You can celebrate those at your own given time. The important thing is when you're getting together with the people that you love, getting together with the people that you care about, and those are the things that are more important.
Melanie Cole: And definitely staying safe and getting our vaccinations, but those are all really good points. And thank you so much, Dr. Michelena, for being with us today. And if you want to be tested for COVID-19 before you travel or just have a general checkup, you can always visit HenryMayoUrgentCare.com to schedule your appointment.
That concludes this episode of It's Your Health Radio with Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. Share this show with your friends and family on your social channels. We're learning from the experts at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital together.
And yes, we all want to get out and travel. We all want to see our loved ones, but we just need to take precautions. We need to get vaccinated, we need to be safe and we need to keep others safe in our communities as well. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.