KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Families around the Kansas City area will be able to sit around the dining room table on Easter Sunday, thanks to new guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kelsey Pomeroy usually has family members over her house each year to celebrate the holiday. She said last year was the first time her family had to skip the Easter traditions, due to the pandemic.
Pomeroy has seen her parents from time to time during the pandemic, but it also came with quarantining for 10 days and social distancing.
This Easter, Pomeroy will be able to have everyone under one roof thanks to the COVID-19 vaccines and the new CDC guidelines.
This includes her parents, young son, husband, sister and her sister's husband. Within her family that is coming over on Sunday, everyone is either fully vaccinated or has received at least one dose.
For Pomeroy, it's full circle to have her family back for the same holiday they missed last year.
"From the very beginning, I had in my head 18 months. 18 months is when we would be vaccinated and hopefully stepping in the right direction," Pomeroy said. "But here we are a little over 12 months later, and I cannot believe that we are vaccinated and safely getting together and it's better than anything I could have hoped."
Doctors at the University of Kansas Health System said vaccinated people can gather with people from other households, as long as unvaccinated people are not high risk.
Doctors said on Friday during a daily briefing that things are much better this Easter compared to last year. However, they still encouraged people not to let their guard down.
"The guidance is one other household if they are not fully vaccinated but hopefully you will be able to hug your grandchildren and have a nice meal," Dr. Dana Hawkinson, Medical Director of Infection Prevention at the University of Kansas Health System, said. "Certainly, continue to take other measures though. But if you are vaccinated, I think it is a more glimmer of light this year versus last year."
