Three generations of people live next door to each other in San Pablo, Calif. The extended family was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217
Beth LaBerge is from KQED.
On a Friday afternoon in early October this year, 8-year-old Maricia Redondo came home from her third grade class in the San Francisco Bay Area with a cough, puffy eyes, and a sore nose.
Maricia's mother says they both got tested on Saturday. We were both positive after our results came back Monday.
In disbelief, she called her doctor's test-result hotline again. "This is not right," she thought. I hung up and called again. It's positive. This is not correct. I hung up again. I did it again!
She was scared for two reasons. Her family fought against COVID-19 in the fall of 2020. The working class neighborhood of San Pablo was the location of the outbreak of the virus. Four generations of the same family live next door to each other in three different houses, all connected by a backyard.
She couldn't imagine another round of treatment against a more dangerous variant than she had faced before. Delta is the most common variant of the Pandemic in the U.S., and it has disproportionately struck Latino families. It's twice as infectious and may cause more serious illnesses than previous versions.
The family had bad luck. It is thought that immunity against natural infections lasts about a year. The family was fighting COVID-19 again and it was almost the same time of year.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong is a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. When the variant in town looks different from the previous ones, it probably manifest itself more. Since you first got it, immunity has waned. Doctors are starting to see more cases of a second infection.
If people don't wear a mask or get a vaccine, they can get a re-infection within a year or two. The risk of a second bout increases over time. A person has a 5% chance of catching the virus four months after an initial infection, but a 50% chance 17 months later.
The family had a bout with the virus in October of 2021, and it was scary because of the vaccine they had. Her dad is a vaccine patient. We're protected in that sense, but she's not.
Her daughter was too young to get a vaccine. The little girl lay in bed wheezing. Maricia's asthma medication was tripled byVanessa and the parents were inside too. She was afraid of telling her mother and grandma about the positive test results.
The family had their first fight.
Maricia was not feeling well during a family gathering in 2020. Over the next few days,Vanessa's partner, mother, two cousins, two aunts, an uncle and two grandmothers all tested positive for COVID-19. Several family members got sick after catching the virus.
Family members were rushed to the hospital.
The first person to need emergency care was the mother of Maricia, who suffers from asthma. "I was on the floor," she remembers. I couldn't say 'I'm hungry' without coughing.
Petra Gonzales almost blacked out.
Petra says she got a high fever. I was ok if I didn't wake up at times.
Petra was in the ER last year with severe dehydration. She heard that her mother, Genoveva, needed hospital care for dangerously low oxygen levels and was being treated at another hospital.
Genoveva's condition was critical and she was not admitted for an extended stay at the hospital. She was under close supervision from doctors and nurses.
Genoveva said it was painful not to be able to help her family. We are always there for each other. It was terrible.
Genoveva was discharged after nearly two weeks in the hospital. She was still connected to the oxygen machine. Genoveva and Petra embraced when they met each other.
Genoveva says that she was hugged so tight. I'll never forget that. We missed each other a lot.
Genoveva is still recovering a year later. She has a lung disease. That's the reason why another round of the virus is so frightening.
They attribute the decrease in family members sick the second time to the vaccine.
The family's worst fears did not come true. Genoveva was out of town when her great-granddaughter brought the virus home, and Maricia recovered. The other adults didn't develop symptoms because they had gotten the vaccinations they needed before the surge. According to research published by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, vaccines offer better protection against reinfections than natural infections. Chin-Hong said that if a breakthrough infection occurs after someone has been vaccineed it will act like a natural booster. He suggests that patients who are not immune should wait three months before getting a vaccine.
Dr. Julie Parsonnet, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases, says that exposure to both the vaccine and the infection improves the ability to fight an infection.
There are a lot of variables at play. First, immunity fades. The virus can change. The shots may not be equally protective for everyone.
"There are some people who can't mount a good immune response, like the elderly, people who are immunocompromised, and people who are on a transplant," she says. They are always going to be at risk. Every child getting vaccine helps protect their family and their neighbors.
Genoveva's community in the Bay Area has multi-generational living. In Contra Costa County, 1 out of 11 people have tested positive for the coronaviruses. Almost 800 people in the county were positive for the Pandemic at one point.
Genoveva says there are four generations living in the same house.
She says her recent booster shot makes her feel better. Genoveva is looking forward to the day when her great-granddaughter and the rest of her family are protected from diseases.
