What will Halloween be like this year in Houston area?
Each week, Chronicle health reporters field questions about the latest on COVID-19, vaccines and pandemic living. In this week’s COVID Help Desk, we explore how grocery shopping has evolved during the pandemic, how vaccine protection wanes over time while continuing to protect the body and how to have a safe Halloween.
As we come out of the delta variant surge, what should I change about my grocery store habits?
When the pandemic started 20 months ago, health experts admit they didn’t know all the ways COVID-19 was transmitted. Initially, many people thought they could stay safe by wiping down their groceries, not using reusable bags or skipping the supermarket altogether by using a curbside grocery service.
Surface transmission is low for COVID-19, so shoppers should feel safe to return to bringing cloth or plastic reusable bags to the stores with them, said said Dr. Annamaria Macaluso Davidson, associate vice president of medical operations at Memorial Hermann Medical Group. But habits that helped keep people safe shouldn’t be forgotten, she said.
“Washing your hands before touching the carts, maybe using a Clorox-type wipe provided, using hand sanitizer and not touching your face — all of that is helpful to do still,” Macaluso Davidson said. “Don’t spray your groceries, but keep your countertops and doorknobs clean.”
Walmart, Kroger and H-E-B have dropped their mask requirements though mask-wearing for unvaccinated people is strongly encouraged while shopping inside. After vaccination, masks provide the best protection from respiratory illnesses such as COVID and the seasonal flu.
While genetic material of the virus can be found on surfaces, the biggest danger is aerosol droplets, said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, chief of infectious diseases at UTHealth Houston. If a person is immunocompromised, they should only go to the store at non-crowded times, always wear a mask and bring a personal tube of hand sanitizer.
“The way you get COVID in the grocery store is not by touching things, but being around people who aren’t wearing masks while you’re not wearing a mask,”
Ostrosky said. “I would not go into a store right now without a mask.”
When does immunity start waning for COVID vaccines, and what does that mean?
Antibodies are what people think about when trying to understand the efficacy of the COVID vaccine they received more than six months ago, said Dr. Wesley Long, a microbiologist and medical director of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist. That’s because antibodies are measurable.
But how memory cells work in the immune system is key to understanding how vaccines continue to protect bodies months after the vaccine series is completed, he said.
Immediately after infection or vaccination, the immune system is stimulated and antibodies are formed from Memory B cells. In the months following the vaccine, the cells are “all hyped up” making antibodies that fight off sickness. And while the “hyped” response slows, the memory cells remember how to fight off infection though you may feel symptomatic at first, Long said.
“It’s a part of the natural immune response — those memory cells are still there hanging out and waiting to be activated if you get exposed to the virus or receive a booster shot,” Long said. “As circulating antibodies decrease or wane, if you get exposed to COVID, the Memory B cells have to get activated and the virus may get to reproduce a little bit in the meantime. This is a breakthrough infection.”
Though the person feels sick, vaccines protect the body from severe illness, hospitalization and death in 90 percent of cases, he added.
Ostrosky said current research shows decreasing immunity after six to eight months after vaccination, which is why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has now approved booster shots for people who completed their vaccine series in spring 2021.
A third shot is important for people who have a high risk of having severe COVID — people 65 and older and those with underlying health concerns, Ostrosky said.
“If you feel that you’re at a high risk of catching COVID, talk with a physician to evaluate the risk and benefits if you’re under 65,” Ostrosky said.
How can Houstonians stay safe this Halloween?
“Don’t lick each other’s candy.”
Dr. Susan McLellan, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Medical Branch, has rules for having a COVID-safe Halloween: be vaccinated (if you’re old enough), wear a mask, don’t go to large indoor gatherings, and don’t breathe in each other’s faces.
Houston-area hospitalizations recently dropped below 1,000, the lowest number since July, which has given health officials and experts hope that the holidays will be closer to normal than last year. Trick-or-treating is an outdoor activity, which is naturally COVID-safe.
Still, vaccines and outdoor activities remain key in ensuring the virus does not spread unchecked on Halloween. Macaluso Davidson said there is still time to receive the first shot of either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna before Halloween for partial protection, and she recommends children who are old enough to be eligible take the FDA-approved Pfizer vaccine, too.
When handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, wash your hands before and after each group of kids. Do not let kids put their hands in the candy dish; rather have pre-made candy bags or individual candy ready to place in their pails.
Having the adults control candy distribution is the safest tactic, since kids tend to lick their hands and fingers, Long said.
Long will again use a candy chute fashioned from a 10-foot piece of PVC pipe to give out candy to trick-or-treaters from his porch. He said it was fun and kept a safe distance between him and the kids on his sidewalk.
“You need some sort of system to keep kids from reaching into a common container, and make sure all the candy is individually wrapped,” Long said. “If you want to be more cautious, kids can wear a disposable mask under their costume’s mask — no one would know.”