89-year-old New Yorker looks forward to dance parties

For over 75 years, Bob Holzman has danced his way around New York City.

"I do all kinds of dancing. I'll do the salsa, the swing, the fox-trot. I do samba."

Until last year, when the pandemic hit, the eighty-nine-year-old New Yorker had never missed a Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing opening, and had been a fixture at New York City dancing parties.

Now vaccinated, Holzman hopes he can soon get back to doing what he most loves most.

"Right here in Bryant Park, they have a dance series that begins in May. My hope is that they will have it."

Across the United States, COVID-19 vaccinations are changing seniors’ daily lives in ways large and small a year after the pandemic drove many in the high-risk group into forced isolation.

Holzman spent his time at home reading e-books loaned from the New York Public Library, which he says he was happy to do, but he can't wait for some normalcy.

"If I'm in lock down, I can always project my brain, my body, everything forward and hopefully to get back to normality. And I'm sure I have a lot of company in regards to that. So many people that just that seem to be on tenterhooks waiting to go out and do the normal thing."

Some 60 million Americans, or roughly 18% of the population, had received at least one vaccine dose as of March 8th, according to CDC data. Nearly 55% of those individuals were 65 years or older.

Still, the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus is causing some inoculated seniors to return to their routines with caution.

Which experts say, remains warranted as scientists are still studying the vaccines’ effectiveness against variants of the coronavirus.

For Holzman, he has no doubt he'll soon be able to do everything he did before.

"And I'll do it with a sense of gratitude that, you know, I was able to get through it and I can even look ahead to the next couple of years."