Videos of grandparents hugging their children and grandchildren after being vaccinated against the coronavirus have gone viral as Americans celebrate some semblance of normalcy after a year of battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday released its first guidelines for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which noted that fully vaccinated people are able to visit other fully vaccinated individuals without having to wear masks or maintaining a distance of 6 feet and that people who have been vaccinated can visit unvaccinated people from one other household while indoors without wearing masks or staying 6 feet apart.
The guidelines have given many people the confidence and security they needed to begin to visit family members in person again and give them a warm embrace.
Evelyn Shaw, a resident of the Bronx borough of New York City, told CNN that it wasn’t until she received a prescription from her doctor stating, “You are allowed to hug your granddaughter,” that she felt comfortable enough to allow her granddaughter Ateret Frank to visit. Shaw already had been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“I was stuck in COVID land and having this prescription from my doctor gave me the courage to let her in,” Shaw told the news outlet. “There we were, standing in my apartment just hugging and hugging and crying and crying for the first time in a year, which was an out-of-body experience. It was blissful.”
A North Carolina family also got to enjoy a moment filled with hugs when one grandmother made the decision to ask her grandkids to walk backwards toward her so that she could embrace them from behind.
“My mom suddenly made an unexpected request,” Deana C. told CNN. “She asked our children to walk backwards to them, one at a time, so that she could put her arms around them for just a moment and hug them. I was so surprised, because we haven’t been anywhere near each other in over a year.”
“I was overwhelmed with joy at the sight of my child and my mom hugging for the first time in over a year,” she said. “I wanted to share this moment to shine a little light during a dark time and encourage others to stay vigilant.”
Dozens of stories like Deana’s and Shaw’s have started to circulate on social media platforms this week following the CDC’s announcement. Google Trends also reported on Tuesday that searches for “Can I hug my grandchildren after vaccine” surged by 3,400 percent.
The nation’s top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci on Thursday said that the CDC will soon issue more guidance in the coming days for Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“They will address travel, they will address workplaces, they will address houses of worship,” Fauci said at the time. “You’re gonna see that coming out pretty quickly.”