Vaccinated seniors at Bothell facility can't wait to hug their family after CDC loosens restrictions

Residents in longterm care facilities excited about new CDC post-vaccine recommendations

The CDC says fully vaccinated people can gather outdoors without masks

BOTHELL, Wash. - The CDC's loosened restrictions on indoor gatherings for people fully vaccinated is a huge step in seniors reconnecting with their families.

For 80-year-old Nancy Kelly, this means finally being able to hug her children and grandchildren.

"It will be nice to touch. It was fun seeing them over Zoom and everything, but you can't touch them and you need to touch," said Kelly.

She said the year of isolation has been tough.

"It's hard. I have missed graduations, I've missed births of babies, I've missed weddings. It's not been easy," said Kelly.

91-year-old Mary Fleming also can't wait to embrace her family.

"For the first few months, we had to talk to them through a window and that was not good. You can talk to them but you need to give them a hug once and a while," said Fleming.

She's already making plans to make up for a year lost due to the pandemic.

"I'm going to make reservations at McMenamin's, I'm going to go to a casino, and already made plans to go to Vegas with my daughter, and Oregon with my other two daughters," said Fleming.

Both Kelly and Fleming live at a senior living facility in Bothell where 98% of residents are vaccinated. The facility, Woodland Terrace, said it's been a very fine line keeping residents safe as well as keeping them active and somewhat social, and the new guidelines are a step towards normalcy.

"It's going to give the residents a sense of excitement and even more so a sense of normalcy, what they've been used to," said Karl Miller, general manager of Woodland Terrace.

Fleming, who quarantined in the 1950s during the tuberculosis epidemic, says she sees light at the end of the tunnel.

"I feel very optimistic. I think life is going to be fine maybe in the next six months," said Fleming.

Kelly, who lived through the polio epidemic, says she thinks there is still a ways to go.

"There are still a lot of people that are not vaccinated and I am rather reluctant other than family to be around people that are not vaccinated," said Kelly.