# How the COVID-19 Vaccine Influenced Our Bachelorette Weekend
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Chapter 1: The Bachelorette Celebration
My dear friend, whom I'll refer to as “Meredith” (all names and identifying details have been altered), postponed her wedding in 2020 due to the pandemic and rescheduled it for this fall. Despite living in a southern state with low vaccination rates, Meredith and her fiancé Tim are conscientious citizens who diligently followed CDC guidelines, wore masks, and volunteered at vaccination sites, receiving their shots back in March.
To secure an invitation to Meredith’s much-anticipated bachelorette weekend (which was highly anticipated among our social circle), we all needed to be vaccinated. The 20 women who traveled from various states were committed to staying healthy in preparation for our first substantial gathering in over a year and a half.
However, just 48 hours after we returned from what was an incredible long weekend, our sense of safety began to crumble. My phone buzzed with a message from Meredith in our bachelorette group chat: she had tested positive for COVID.
My anxiety skyrocketed. Did I have it? Had I unknowingly passed it to my husband or other passengers on my flights? I pictured our departure from the bachelorette house like a virus spreading across the country to husbands, roommates, aging parents, and children heading back to school.
As test results came in, our group chat of mainly meticulous overachievers turned into a flurry of concern.
Most of us were taken aback; we were all vaccinated, and several had even received negative rapid tests before the weekend.
We began isolating, conducting at-home tests, scheduling PCR tests, and monitoring our symptoms. Over the next few days, five additional women tested positive. Of these, only one experienced severe symptoms, while two were asymptomatic, and the others had mild, cold-like symptoms such as headaches and sore throats. We started to piece together who had been in close contact with whom in our expansive rental, trying to understand how the virus spread so quickly.
Notes Before Diving Deeper:
- I’ll refer to the five other positive cases as P1–5 to simplify the discussion of the outbreak.
- We did not wear masks inside the house, assuming it was unnecessary given our vaccination status.
- Approximately half our time was spent outdoors by the pool, and our rental was large enough to facilitate social distancing.
- We had no outside interactions, except for brief encounters with the boat crew we hired and masked trips to the grocery store.
Section 1.1: Points of Transmission
Let’s examine the details of our bachelorette weekend and identify potential transmission points.
Subsection 1.1.1: Close Contact
Two days into our getaway, P1 offered to do Meredith’s makeup for a planned tropical cocktail party. They sat very close to each other for about 20 minutes indoors without masks, which likely contributed to the spread. Despite the circumstances, Meredith looked absolutely radiant.
Subsection 1.1.2: Karaoke Night
We spent one evening singing karaoke, blissfully unaware of the risks involved. Meredith and P2 shared a microphone, their faces close together as they belted out a duet.
Subsection 1.1.4: The Neighboring House
P4 stayed in a separate rental nearby, avoiding the karaoke mic altogether. Despite sharing a ride to the airport with her, neither she nor her housemates tested positive.
Subsection 1.1.5: Testing and Vaccination
P5 had tested negative for COVID before joining us, having taken precautions due to her father’s illness. She shared a bed with P2 but remained uninfected.
Section 1.2: Vaccine Effectiveness
Out of the six women who tested positive, five had received the Pfizer vaccine, while one had the J&J shot. Notably, several of those who tested positive had been vaccinated several months prior, which might have decreased their immunity. However, some women vaccinated during the same timeframe did not contract the virus.
The evidence we gathered confirmed what we knew about vaccines: while they didn’t entirely prevent infection, they significantly reduced the severity of symptoms. Out of 20 attendees, only six contracted the virus, and no one faced hospitalization. Furthermore, in the week and a half since returning home, none of the partners or children of those affected showed symptoms or tested positive.
Although this experience served as a stark reminder of the virus's transmissibility, it also reinforced the notion that, as Meredith aptly put it, “these vaccines are a miracle.”
Video Reflections: A Week in My Life
In the midst of our concerns, you can check out this video titled A Week in My Life: Getting My Covid Vaccine, Making Vegan Dessert & Workout Event. It captures the daily life and experiences surrounding COVID vaccinations.
Video Insights: Vaccine Awareness
Additionally, the video titled COVID-19 Vaccine Awareness: Sheila Faye Reeder | Marianna, Arkansas offers insightful perspectives on vaccine awareness and the importance of vaccinations.
Conclusions and Recommendations
As a self-proclaimed scientist, I feel compelled to summarize our findings. While Meredith quarantined in her garage (entertaining us with solo karaoke videos), everyone who tested positive has since recovered.
This experience has left me and my fellow attendees immensely grateful for the vaccines. Personally, I continue to wear masks in public indoor spaces and plan to get the booster when it becomes available. Stay safe, everyone! And remember to sanitize those karaoke microphones between performances of your favorite songs!