DeSantis should redeploy immigrant job-stealer border stunt to Mar-a-Lago https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story...grant-job-stealers-start-mar-lago/5429144001/
DeSantis is doing everything possible to be sure COVID spreads like wildfire... This Florida COVID surge is different. So is the state’s response. “We need to slow this virus down,“ one UF expert said. “It’s taking off like wildfire in our communities.” https://www.tampabay.com/news/flori...surge-is-different-so-is-the-states-response/ Florida has been here before. But not like this. This wave of the coronavirus crashing over the state is different. The strain is different: delta appears far more infectious than previous versions of the virus. The patients filling hospitals at an alarming rate are different. They’re younger, and healthier. In the overwhelming majority of cases, they’re unvaccinated. And the politics are different. Last year, local governments issued mandates: Mask up. Shut down. Ride it out. But since then, Republican leaders have taken steps to forbid municipalities from instituting new restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. Now, some local officials say all they can do is beg people to get shots. “In a perfect world, we would have the ability to look at things like mask mandates,” St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman said in a Friday interview. “At this point in time, all I can say is ‘Please get vaccinated,’ because we don’t want anyone to get unnecessarily ill or to die.” Few leaders from either party at any level are calling for actions like business shutdowns. That’s another change in precedent. Last summer, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration suspended drinking alcohol at bars. Since last fall, DeSantis, a Republican, has sworn off business restrictions and mandates of any kind. Many prominent Democrats, including President Joe Biden and Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, now agree governments should not shut down businesses in an attempt to slow the virus’ spread. But without the blunt instrument of a lockdown or a mask mandate, it’s unclear what localities are supposed to dowhile their hospitals fill up. Earlier this year, DeSantis signed a law banning governments, schools and businesses from requiring proof of coronavirus vaccinations from the people seeking their services. Under that law, local governments also may not declare states of emergency for longer than seven days at a time. Under an executive order he signed in May, cities may not enforce any sort of COVID-19-related mandate. Kriseman, a Democrat, said he would look at potentially mandating vaccines for St. Petersburg’s 3,000 employees. Leon County and Orange County — where COVID-19 hospitalizations are surging — did something similar earlier this week. It’s unclear whether such actions will be challenged; DeSantis’ office said his legal team is reviewing the issue. Hillsborough County will require the public to wear masks inside county buildings beginning Monday. Hillsborough County Commission chair Pat Kemp said she would like to pass another countywide mask ordinance, but the new state law has essentially forbidden her from doing so. Some businesses are imposing their own restrictions. Disney will require many of its employees to be vaccinated, the major Florida employer announced Friday. And Publix supermarkets will require all of its employees to wear masks starting Monday. Dr. Glenn Morris, director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida, said he recommends mask mandates in schools and communities at large. “It’s imperative that people wear masks,” he said. “We need to slow this virus down. It’s taking off like wildfire in our communities.” Christina Pushaw, a spokesperson for DeSantis, said “there is no reason to believe that a mask mandate would prevent a case increase,” citing other states that saw increases even after such mandates were tried at the state level. Some local officials say they feel they already have the tools to fight the virus. Vaccines have been widely available to Floridians as young as 12 for months. They have been proven, in the overwhelming majority of cases, to prevent a person from suffering the worst effects of the virus. “We’ve got the vaccine. We’ve got more accepted treatments,” Pinellas County Commission chair Dave Eggers, a Republican, said in a Friday interview. “I think we have what we need. I don’t think we need any other mandates. I think that’s a statewide call.” DeSantis briefly addresses the surge During the worst of 2020′s deadly summer COVID-19 surge, Florida hospitals added about 8,000 new patients infected with the virus in about 60 days. This year, as the delta variant of the virus rampages through the state, Florida hospitals have added more than 7,000 new COVID-19 patients in just 21 days. The hospitals in the worst shape are in the Jacksonville and Orlando areas, but they’re quickly filling elsewhere, according to Mary Mayhew, a former top DeSantis health official who is now the CEO of the Florida Hospital Association. It’s unclear whether the surge is close to its peak. Although DeSantis has been a vocal proponent of the coronavirus vaccines throughout this latest surge, there was a time when the virus was more emphasized in his agenda. In December and January, the governor toured the state, touting the vaccines and their availability to the oldest Floridians, who are most susceptible to the virus’ worst effects. That effort paid dividends: Some 85 percent of Floridians older than 65 had received at least one dose of a vaccine as of Friday. “It’s so obvious that this has worked for seniors,” said Thomas Hladish, a research scientist at the University of Florida’s department of biology and theEmerging Pathogens Institute. “If other age groups were vaccinated at the same rate that seniors have been, we would have significantly less of a problem.” According to his daily schedule this past week, DeSantis did not hold any public events whose main topic was the summer surge. DeSantis held two events about the dangers of mandating masks in schools. In between, he traveled to Utah to speak at the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council conference. Throughout the week, Florida’s governor criticized the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its recommendation that vaccinated people wear masks inside in some situations. He did briefly address the summer surge at a Friday event in Cape Coral: “If you look at the seasonal wave we’re experiencing in Florida, that’s being driven a lot by a lot of younger people. They’re not getting really sick from it or anything,” DeSantis said. (My comment - what an idiot. As the hospital ICUs in Florida are getting overwhelmed with the vast majority of people hospitalized being under 55.) According to the coronavirus case numbers released by the state on Friday, nine in 10 cases reported in Florida this week were in people younger than 65. Deaths are not increasing as quickly as the numbers of Floridians hospitalized. According to the New York Times, the two-week average of daily Florida coronavirus hospitalizations was up 123 percent as of Friday. The two-week average of daily deaths was up 77 percent, that newspaper reported. Although it’s far more contagious than past virus strands, it’s unclear whether the delta variant is more deadly, Morris said. Pushaw said that there is no evidence to suggest delta is more deadly than past variants. A worrying situation in state hospitals The state’s hospitals are filling up. According to Tiffany Vause, a spokesperson for the Agency for Health Care Administration, nearly 84 percent of the state’s inpatient hospital beds are in use, and nearly 86 percent of its intensive care unit beds. COVID-19 patients make up about one-third of the people admitted to intensive care. Both inpatient and intensive care usage rates are approaching the state’s overall pandemic peak from last July, leaving short-staffed hospitals scrambling. The state can help with some of these challenges, Mayhew said. She said her organization is in touch with the DeSantis administration about a potential Department of Health emergency rule allowing health care professionals licensed in other states to come work in Florida hospitals. The Agency for Health Care Administration could also temporarily lift bureaucratic discharge requirements that are keeping some patients without COVID-19 in hospitals longer than they need to be, she said. Vause said in an email Friday that her agency is not working to change the discharge rules, but the state is urging insurers to make faster decisions about discharges. Weesam Khoury, a spokesperson for the Department of Health, said the department is working “diligently to ensure the licensing process is expedited and as efficient as possible to support health care facilities.” Even outside of the hardest-hit hospitals of the Orlando and Jacksonville regions, local officials are feeling the surge. Barry Burton, the Pinellas County administrator, said some local hospitals are already having to divert ambulances to different locations because of capacity concerns. It’s not all bad news. Justin Senior, the CEO of the Safety Net Hospital Alliance Of Florida, said despite thousands of recent reported COVID-19 cases in kids, children do not appear to be suffering the worst effects of the disease at his members’ hospitals. The Florida vaccination effort is also picking back up, according to Friday’s numbers. The state saw a 16 percent week-over-week spike in vaccinations. The majority of the most recent week’s vaccinations were first doses. “People are motivated to get the vaccine,” Senior said. Still, some Democrats have called for DeSantis to take more drastic action than he’s been so far willing to take. State Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, on Tuesday urged DeSantis to order a statewide state of emergency so hospitals could unlock potential federal funding. Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, called for DeSantis to impose a statewide mask mandate. One thing most everyone seems to agree on: If someone is on the fence about getting vaccinated, it’s time to get off. “What would be most helpful is getting the vaccination numbers up more,” Hladish said. “The vaccines do help in preventing infections with the delta variant, but they help even more to keep people out of hospitals.”
Over 400 Covid deaths in Florida in a week. In case the numbers are confusing you again that's not a good number when vaccines have been available for many months now. Seriously some of you Covid denier types became a huge joke a long time ago and you just don't know when to stop do you ?
"DeSantis for the win" -- Florida is again #1 Of course Florida no longer reports this data thanks to DeSantis ordering no more daily reports -- so we have to get it from the CDC. Florida sets a record with 21,683 new COVID-19 cases reported Saturday, the CDC says https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article253168148.html Saturday, the state of Florida reported more new COVID-19 cases to the Centers for Disease Control than any previous day in the coronavirus pandemic: 21,683. That’s a 12.1% jump over the previous record, Jan. 7’s 19,334 cases during the worst month of the pandemic. Daily case counts routinely surpassed 10,000 as the pandemic peaked a second time. In the succeeding months, daily case counts returned to 2,000 and 8,000. The last half of July looks like the start of Florida’s third COVID-19 peak, as the case numbers reported Thursday (17,093), Friday (17,589) and Saturday mix in with Jan. 6-8 to comprise the top six individual case count days. The average over the last seven days is 15,817 cases. By comparison, on July 12, 2020, the state reported a then-national record of 15,300 cases. Florida, which represents about 6.5% of the U.S. population, accounts for about 21.4% of the country’s new cases, based on the data the state is reporting to the CDC. Florida also reported 108 deaths Saturday, eight days after reporting 148 deaths. Before this most recent surge, you have to go back to March 26 to find a higher single-day death count (159). South Florida vaccinations and hospitalizations The CDC rated the level of community transmission in each Florida county as “high.” ▪ In Miami-Dade County, 1,662,045 people, 61.2% of the total population, have completed their vaccination regimen. The positive testing rate over the last seven days is 13.3%, a rise of 1.54%. New hospitalizations have risen 36.93%. ▪ In Broward County, 1,007,230 people, 51.6% of the total population, are vaccinated fully. The positive test rate over the last seven days is 16.57%, a rise of 2.72%. New hospitalizations have risen 33.87%. ▪ In Palm Beach County, 754,706 people, 50.4% of the total population, have completed their vaccination regimen. The positive testing rate over the last seven days is 18.82%, a rise of 3.87%. New hospitalizations have risen 34.66%. ▪ In Monroe County, 43,913 people, 59.2% of the total population, are vaccinated fully. The positive testing rate over the last seven days is 17.03%, a rise of 6.09%. New hospitalizations have risen 16.67%. Manatee County Up in Manatee County, 187,107 people, 46.4% of the total population, are vaccinated fully. The positive testing rate over the last seven days is 18.89%, a rise of 3.0%. New hospitalizations have risen 122.73%. This is a developing story and will be updated.
Ron DeSantis is 'like the pied piper leading everybody off a cliff' as COVID surges: Miami Beach mayor "The truth is, I'm the mayor of a hospitality town, I think most people coming here would rather be in a place that they feel safer than a place that they feel like they may be getting, you know, the virus. So for me, I think it's a smart thing to do and he just seems to be doing everything -- he's a like the pied piper leading everybody off a cliff right now by letting them know that they don't have to like the CDC, they don't have to wear masks, that they can do whatever they want when we're in the midst of an enormous pandemic." "Florida is leading the nation right now in all the worst data points," he noted. "The governor is just trying to curry favor with a group of supporters that like to hear this red meat ideology. He should be focused on delivering what would be good advice. He could save thousands of people if he did that, because the people most likely to avoid wearing a mask and not want to get a vaccine are probably people who are among his most ardent supporters."
"DeSantis for the win" -- #1 in Hospitalizations. Notice that the information has to come from the federal government since Florida no longer reports daily data. Very sad for a state responsible for over 20% of the Delta COVID cases in the U.S. Florida breaks record for COVID-19 hospitalizations https://www.aol.com/news/florida-breaks-record-covid-19-174130613-183704493.html A day after it recorded the most new daily cases since the start of the pandemic, Florida on Sunday broke a previous record for current hospitalizations, as the number of patients in hospitals because of COVID-19 once again broke through the 10,000-person threshold. The Sunshine State had 10,207 people hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to data reported to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The previous record was from more than a year ago, July 23, 2020, more than a half-year before vaccinations started becoming widespread, when Florida had 10,170 hospitalizations, according to the Florida Hospital Association. Florida is now leading the nation in per capita hospitalizations for COVID-19, as hospitals around the state report having to put emergency room visitors in beds in hallways and others document a noticeable drop in the age of patients. In the past week, Florida has averaged 1,525 adult hospitalizations a day, and 35 daily pediatric hospitalizations. Both are the highest per capita rate in the nation, according to Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida. The hospitalizations and increasing cases have come as the new, more transmittable delta variant has spread throughout Florida, and residents have returned to pre-pandemic activities. “The recent rise is both striking and not-at-all surprising,” Salemi said in an email late Saturday. Federal health data released Saturday showed that Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the state’s highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic. The latest numbers were recorded on Friday and released on Saturday on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website. The figures show how quickly the number of cases is rising in the Sunshine State: only a day earlier, Florida reported 17,093 new daily cases. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine requirements, and along with the state Legislature, has limited local officials’ ability to impose restrictions meant to stop the spread of COVID-19. DeSantis on Friday barred school districts from requiring students to wear masks when classes resume next month. Florida's Democratic agriculture commissioner, Nikki Fried, who is seeking to run against DeSantis for governor, on Sunday urged unvaccinated Floridians to get the shots. She said she was heartened by a recent uptick in vaccinations in the state. “We are already behind the curve and in a worse spot every time the numbers come out," Fried said at a news conference in Tallahassee. “This surge is and will impact every single one of us." Throughout Florida, from Jacksonville to Miami to Tampa, hospitals have become overwhelmed. Barry Burton, the Pinellas County administrator, told the Tampa Bay Times that some local hospitals are already having to divert ambulances to different locations because of capacity concerns. There has been a startling rise in the number of children with the virus at hospitals in Miami, many of them requiring intensive care. Memorial Health’s Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood had seven patients with COVID-19. At Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, there were 17 patients with COVID-19 on Friday, including six in the ICU and one who needed a ventilator, Dr. Marcos Mestre, vice president and chief medical officer, told the Miami Herald. About half of the patients were under 12, Mestre said, and the rest were older and eligible for the vaccine. But none of the patients with COVID-19 at Nicklaus Children’s on Friday were vaccinated. Most children who get COVID-19 do not need hospitalization, Mestre said. At the UF Health North hospital emergency room in Jacksonville, COVID-19 patients once again were being put in beds in hallways due to a surge in visits. For many hospital workers, up until a month ago, it looked like there was light at the end of the tunnel, as people got vaccinated and hospitalizations decreased. But then the summer surge, powered by the new delta variant, hit Florida in July. “That light did turn out to be a train in this case,” Marsha Tittle, a nursing manager at UF Health North, told The Florida Times Union. “We’re taking more patients than we normally would take. ... My staff is wonderful. You walk out there, they’re going to have smiles on their faces and they’re doing a great job. But there’s a sense of defeat, like they’re just defeated.”
Florida doctors are ‘angry and ashamed’ at governor Ron DeSantis as state becomes national Covid epicenter The governor has vowed not to institute further lockdowns or mask mandates. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/florida-ron-desantis-covid-delta-b1894764.html
'It just went boom': Florida ICU's swamped with younger COVID victims Describing the sudden surge from variant, Ademola Ayo Akinkunmi, director of patient care services for Jackson Health bluntly stated, "It just went boom," before adding, "No matter how hard we work to discharge patients we know there are others coming." The report goes on to note, "In Florida, the number of new cases and the rate of positive tests for the virus that causes COVID-19 — a measure known as the level of community transmission — is high in all 67 counties, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. On Saturday, Florida reported 21,683 new COVID-19 cases as of July 30, the single-highest daily COVID case count since the pandemic began 18 months ago, according to CDC data. The seven-day moving average soared to 15,817, a more than 750% increase since July 1."
Florida is showing the way to freedom. Get a jab or, Let the virus burn through, some will die, most won't and herd immunity will be achieved. Let a free society decide for themselves.