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Public Health Director: Be cautious celebrating Easter, keep yourself and others safe

“So, they really need to be very methodical in the way that they handle Easter this year,” said City County Public Health Director Annette Rodriguez.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — For the most part spring break has wrapped up in the Coastal Bend but another time for celebration and gathering is right around the corner, Easter. 

You and your loved ones might be ready to light up the barbeque pit, but before you do it’s important to be cautious to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

“So, they really need to be very methodical in the way that they handle Easter this year,” said City County Public Health Director Annette Rodriguez. 

Rodriguez says even though it feels like we’re getting closer to normalcy with more vaccines being distributed and guidance’s being relaxed, we’re not there yet. 

“As unfortunate as it is for me to say, it’s not normal still,” said Rodriguez. 

Because of that we still must remain cautious especially when it comes to gatherings. 

“They need to think about who they’re inviting over; they need to be able to ask them have you received your second vaccine, has it been more than two weeks since you received your second vaccine,” said Rodriguez. 

Asking those questions is extremely important for the safety of everyone.

“If you don’t know those things about them then you really don’t know a lot about what it’s putting you at risk for and so you need to be able to ask,” said Rodriguez. 

Rodriguez says even if you have received your vaccine, you’re not exempt from asking those questions.

“While we’ve been vaccinated there’s still that 5 percent chance that we can still pick up COVID and then there’s these variants,” said Rodriguez. “We know some of them the vaccine just isn’t as protective for the variants as it is for everything else, so you really have to watch all of these things before you make that decision.”

New CDC guidelines say those who have been vaccinated can gather together and not wear a mask, but keep in mind the risk if you gather with people who have not been vaccinated.

“But when you invite extended family members and you haven’t known if they’ve been vaccinated or not or what the situation is with them,” said Rodriguez. 

“You don’t know how risky of behaviors they have which means do they go to places where they congregate with a lot of people, what was their spring break like.”

If you haven't been vaccinated or your guests were part of large crowds this spring break Rodriguez says you should be even more cautious and mindful.

“You need to be able to say were you at the beach this spring break because if you were then you’re gonna have to wear a mask the whole time and you’re gonna have to social distance from them bottom line and you haven’t been vaccinated absolutely,” said Rodriguez. 

The CDC says if you plan to celebrate with others outdoors is safer than indoors. For more tips from the CDC, click here. 

For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.

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