Why can't we protect the high risk better? If we can lock down the low risk... we can lock down the high risk better. For instance we saw some old folks homes get locked down really well after initial serious problems in some old folks homes. You are just lying now to protect your previous stupidity.
So tell us how you are going to protect the high risk in nursing homes across the globe? No country was able to able to protect their aging at-risk population when COVID prevalence was high in a local community.
DeSantis claims he can bar the cruise line vaccine mandates. Seeing that transportation to from the U.S. to/from foreign countries has federal oversight for health related measures - the reality is that DeSantis does not have a leg to stand on. Of course there is reality that the huge majority of countries in the Carribean will not allow cruise ships to dock unless everyone on board is vaccinated -- these countries with limited health systems cannot take the risk of large outbreaks in their populations caused by masses of cruisers. Another cruise line will require vaccines; DeSantis says no https://www.sun-sentinel.com/busine...0210412-7ok6fwabpndc5aop6oyla5tgvq-story.html Silversea Cruises became the second major cruise line to announce it will require COVID-19 vaccinations for all passengers when it resumes global itineraries on June 5. The decision could set up a confrontation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when the luxury cruise line is scheduled to sail from Port Everglades in December. DeSantis’ press office on Monday asserted that his recent executive order barring businesses from requiring proof of vaccinated customers extends to cruise lines operating in Florida. “The Governor’s Executive Order provides that businesses in Florida are prohibited from requiring patrons or customers to provide any documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccination or post-transmission recovery to gain access to, entry upon, or service from the business,” press secretary Cody McCloud said by email. “Therefore, the Executive Order prohibits cruise lines from requiring vaccine passports for their Florida operations.” Silversea’s announcement follows Norwegian Cruise Line’s statement last week that it would require full vaccinations if the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allows it to resume sailing in July. The cruise line is scheduled to run trips out of Port Miami beginning in September. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings also operates Regent Seven Seas Cruises and Oceania Cruises. Silversea’s requirement will take effect when the company launches its first cruise since the pandemic on June 5 — a seven-day Galapagos Islands voyage from Ecuador. No voyages from U.S. ports are scheduled until Aug. 29, a 26-day trip to Japan from Anchorage, Alaska. Four sailings are scheduled from Port Everglades in December aboard the ships Silver Whisper, Silver Dawn and Silver Spirit. Silversea is a luxury cruise line, with fares that run into thousands of dollars. Whether DeSantis actually has authority to bar cruise lines from requiring vaccinations could become the focus of a legal battle involving the cruise lines and the CDC. The Coast Guard and the CDC have asserted control over pandemic-related cruise line activity at the port, but most decisions have been made by a “unified command” that includes the state, federal and county governments, working with the cruise lines, said Ellen Kennedy, spokeswoman for Port Everglades. Asked about DeSantis’ assertion, Port Director Jonathan Daniels said by email: “We are working with the cruise lines and through all local, state and federal regulations and guidelines to effect a safe restart to cruising.” However, attorneys familiar with issues of government regulations and maritime law question whether DeSantis’ authority extends to cruise lines, which are foreign-registered corporations operating foreign-flagged ships in mostly international waters. Dawn Myers, a partner with the government and regulatory team at Miami-based Berger Singerman, last week said DeSantis likely has no authority under interstate law, international law or maritime law to bar cruise lines from requiring vaccinations unless cruise ships were merely traveling from one Florida port to another. Jim Walker, a South Florida attorney who specializes in maritime law, accused DeSantis of wanting to “have his cake and eat it too” by calling for the CDC to allow cruise lines to resume operations while prohibiting cruise lines from requiring vaccinations. “Both of these issues are well outside the jurisdiction of a state governor,” he said recently. DeSantis on Thursday announced that state Attorney General Ashley Moody filed suit against the CDC, claiming it violated federal procedures when it ordered cruise lines to obtain certification before they could resume. All cruising from the U.S. has been shut down since March 2020, when numerous ships experienced COVID-19 outbreaks among passengers and crew members. Spokesmen for Carnival and Royal Caribbean said Monday that no decisions have been made regarding vaccination policies for U.S.-based voyages. Previously, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises announced that passengers over age 16 must be vaccinated for summer cruises launching from Israel between May and October. Royal Caribbean cruises launching from Nassau, Bahamas, and Bermuda this summer will require vaccinations for passengers 18 and over. Younger passengers will be able to cruise if they test negative for COVID-19. Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean’s sister company, will also allow passengers under 18 without vaccines to board Caribbean voyages out of St. Marrten beginning June 5. Still, “we have not yet made a determination to mandate vaccines (on U.S.-based trips) at this time,” Carnival Corp. spokesman Roger Frizzell said in response to questions about how his company plans to handle the issue across its eight brands, which include Holland America, Costa, Cunard, Seabourn and Princess. “We will continue to monitor the evolving situation with vaccines globally.” Major cruise lines have called upon the CDC to provide guidelines that would enable them to resume cruising from U.S. ports this July. Cruise Lines International Association, a trade group representing most of the world’s major cruise lines, last week criticized updated guidelines released by the CDC in late March as “burdensome” and “unworkable.” Cruise lines argue that CDC guidance issued in October is outdated because it was issued before vaccines were developed and does not take into account protections that the cruise lines have since adopted on their own. CLIA says the cruise industry has been treated unfairly compared to just about all other leisure industries that have been allowed to resume with preventative measures such as mask mandates and social distancing. Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy appeared on the WPLG-TV public affairs show This Week in South Florida and said the CDC hasn’t yet provided guidance for test sailings that the agency is requiring that the cruise lines conduct or what kind of vaccines will be required.
Pitfalls of Florida’s COVID-19 Vaccination Plan http://www.floridapoliticalreview.com/pitfalls-of-floridas-covid-19-vaccination-plan/ For a state that was so quick to reach Phase 3 of reopening after the national lockdown in 2020, Florida is comparatively at quite a standstill for COVID-19 vaccine distribution. As vaccine availability ramps up across the nation, there is an unspoken race to reach herd immunity. With other states making substantial headway in ending this pandemic once and for all, citizens and public health experts alike are concerned about Florida’s equivocal COVID-19 vaccination plan. Florida has fully vaccinated 21.4% of the state population. This puts the state at 38th place among the rest of the United States. Although Florida is the third-largest state by population size, the statistics for vaccine distribution efficiency are more considerate of population factors. Still, Florida is in 38th place for efficiency and only twelve states and the District of Columbia have a lower percentage of doses administered. Populous or not, it is clear that Florida is lagging in the road to recovery. In terms of COVID-19 prevalence, Florida still has the 8th highest positivity rate at 10.0% positive. Both California and Texas are larger in population size, but they have positivity rates of 1.9% and 6.4%, respectively. From an organizational standpoint, Florida’s COVID-19 vaccination plan consists of Phase 1 and Phase 2. Phase 1 includes persons ages 40+, health care personnel with direct patient contact, long-term care staff and residents, individuals extremely at risk of contracting COVID-19, and teachers under 50 at certain vaccination sites. Phase 2 covers the general public over 16 years of age. This agenda is overly simplified considering that Florida has over 21 million residents. California, on the other hand, has a multifaceted COVID-19 vaccination plan segmented into Phase 1a, 1b tiers 1–3 and Phase 2. The intricacy of California’s vaccine distribution strategy has been conducive to battling the spread of the virus among more than 40 million residents. The state government of Florida remains fixated on their prioritization of senior citizens, but the rest is unclear. To the surprise of many, Gov. Ron DeSantis received an overwhelming amount of praise for his lack of specificity. DeSantis claimed that Florida is better off without a detailed vaccination plan. He “criticized other states for updating their plans over time,” taking pride in his consistency. This consistency, however, stems from his persevering lack of clarity throughout the entire situation. Following suit of the politicization that this global pandemic has faced, DeSantis’s efforts point to an ulterior motive of personal gain as the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election draws closer. A text exchange between Commissioner Vanessa Baugh and Rex Jensen revealed the primary rationale of the Lakewood vaccination pop-up site. Jensen texted Baugh “Should try to see if that would help [DeSantis] get exposure here,” to which Baugh responded “Excellent point. After all, ’22 is right around the corner.” In addition, the pop-up site in Manatee County quickly received criticism in that DeSantis set aside an abundance of vaccines for the wealthiest, whitest, most Republican neighborhoods in Manatee. DeSantis tried to refute this public sentiment by stating that certain partisan news media were going against the vaccination of wealthy, Republican-leaning neighborhoods. Although vaccination opened up to individuals of age 16 or older starting on April 5, the lack of clarity in Florida’s vaccination agenda continues to cause turbulence in reaching herd immunity. With the state submerged in ambiguity, there are still gaps in vaccination persisting within age groups that were already eligible before. The expansion of COVID-19 vaccines to the general public is more of a rushed band-aid solution for Florida rather than the next appropriate milestone that it serves as in other states.
Is Florida under-counting COVID-19 deaths? http://www.thefamuanonline.com/2021/04/12/is-florida-under-counting-covid-19-deaths/ The number of Floridians who have died from COVID-19 is approaching 34,000, according to the state of Florida, but a recent study by the American Journal of Public Health suggests that the number is actually much higher by thousands of cases. In April 2020, it became clear that Florida was intentionally hiding a list of daily deaths that had previously been compiled by county medical examiners, according to the journal. Since then, those examiners, as well as hospitals and local officials have complained that the number of COVID-19 deaths being reported by Gov. Ron DeSantis and his administration doesn’t match what they’re seeing in their areas. “Total deaths are significantly higher than historical trends in Florida even when accounting for COVID-19 related deaths,” the study concluded. The researchers compared estimated and recorded death data during the pandemic. DeSantis said on March 27 that the state’s health department is releasing accurate information. “We have the most data than any state,” he said. “They’re releasing stuff, and they’re putting it out there.” Meanwhile, infectious disease experts are tracking a rising number of COVID-19 variant cases in Florida. The state has far more variant cases than any other in the country, according to the CDC. With that in mind, doctors worry that spring break could be the breaking point for a fourth wave of the coronavirus. Last year, Rebekah Jones, a data scientist with the state, claimed she was fired by the state for not doctoring coronavirus figures. Jones has said she was terminated because she refused to “manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen.” Florida has been one of the leading focal points for the spread of the virus in the United States, with well over 2 million infections. The analysis released by the American Journal of Public Health was aimed at verifying and confirming the number of excess deaths occurring in Florida since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the state in March 2020. This meant assessing those deaths exceeding historical or previous trends after accounting for COVID-19 deaths, with a special emphasis placed on forecasting monthly deaths from January to September 2020 if the pandemic had not occurred. A comparison was then conducted with monthly recorded total deaths during the pandemic and deaths only from the virus. Results from the research suggested that Florida saw 19,241 additional people die between March and September 2020, a 15.5 percent increase in deaths for the seven-month interval. Of the excess death totals, 14,317 of them had been COVID-19 deaths not logged into the state’s official coronavirus tracker and 4,924 other deaths, excluding COVID-19. The study concluded that the impact of COVID-19 on mortality is much greater than the official COVID-19 data suggests. Hospital patients in Florida reported symptoms of the virus as early as Jan. 1, 2020, just days before the World Health Organization began releasing its first major investigative reports on SARS-CoV-2. Florida did not announce its first two presumed coronavirus cases until March 1, well after COVID-19 reached community transmission. DeSantis labeled the virus a “significant health threat” in January 2020, but consistently downplayed the likelihood of its spread in Florida before the state’s first cases were confirmed in March 2020. Florida officials were among the first to lift shutdowns in the months of May and June of last year with the opening of restaurants and retail stores throughout the state. Since then, DeSantis has opposed any new shutdowns or restrictions. Overall, COVID-19 was the third most common cause of death in the U.S. during 2020, Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Justin Lessler said.
Half way through last year, it was reported by numerous medical sources that any attempt to "protect the high risk" while letting the "low risk" go about their business had failed throughout history. This is one reason why restrictions and sometimes lockdowns are necessary. If you wish to change policy, you'd have to prove that some better practical protections will be effective whereas they have never been so in the past. And you can't guess. People die when you are wrong on these things. Now there is direct evidence that the UK variant spreads rather easily when the "low risk" mingle going about their lives, and that it is in fact leading to far more serious health care concerns for some of the "low risk". This isn't helping your argument, and I've yet to see any part of the world successfully implement your ideas. There are however numerous countries that used very strict lockdowns and succeeded far better then most, and other countries like Canada that used loose phased in restrictions that fared now as well but better then the US by a wide margin. April 2020 I suggested Canada's approach was better then the US approach ( at least in most states ), and you could borrow from our methods. You chose not to, and had much worse results. Still no sign of your ideas being successfully anywhere, yet Sweden your go to example had a spectacular failure in recent months.