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Vaccine offers hope for Sumter seniors home for months due to COVID-19

After months of separation, some Sumter seniors hope the new coronavirus vaccine will offer a chance to connect with friends and family again.

SUMTER, S.C. — Sitting at her usual table inside the Sumter Senior Services' dining room Wednesday brought back a sense of comfort for Julia Evans.

For months she had been separated from the space where she once gathered with friends as a precaution due to COVID-19.

"We'd listen at music and get up and dance," Evans said, and play bingo. " 'Cause they love to play bingo here."

Credit: Kayland Hagwood
Bingo at Sumter Senior Services before pandemic.

That was before the coronavirus pandemic. Now, instead of friendly competition, the dining room is filled with boxes of food to be delivered to seniors at home, where they're separate, but safe.

“I normally would just tell them I love you too much to bring you back right now," Executive Director Gail Wilson said. "Your safety means a lot to me.”

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Still the emotional toll continues.

"It was devastating. I live for this. I enjoy this, coming here, everyday,” Evans said. "I talk to my children every day three or four times a day sometimes just to have somebody to talk to and just try to stay home after the virus got so bad.... Sometime I just get in the car and then ride down the road or ride somewhere and turn around and come back home to say I went somewhere.”

Wilson said she's not alone, as seniors who are most at risk of negative effects of the virus, stay home to be protected.

"There are some seniors that will not see anyone around the holidays," Wilson said. "Just call up someone to see how they are doing.”

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Evans longs for the days when she and her friends can get back together and is hopeful a vaccine could make a difference.

“If I was able to take it... or I can persuade somebody else to take it and it just keep going down from one chain length to another chain length and then we all will be safe, hopefully."

Hope for a future where the dining room is filled again with music, friends and bingo.

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