Florida appealing vaccine mandate 'beyond bizarre; It's shameful': Norwegian Cruise CEO https://finance.yahoo.com/news/flor...-shameful-norwegian-cruise-ceo-144326064.html Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCLH) resumed operations for the first time in 18 months Sunday, with a 100% vaccination mandate for all guests and staff. CEO Frank Del Rio told Yahoo Finance he is hoping other companies follow suit, and says it's a failure of leadership in the country to not have a similar vaccine mandate nationwide. "Our leadership has failed us," Del Rio said. "Can you imagine if 700,000 people died of anything other than covid, the outrage that there would be, what government would do to stop that? And this government, whether we're talking about local, state or federal — and I'm not talking Republicans, I'm not talking Democrats, I'm talking government," Del Rio said. In addition to the lack of federal mandates, the company has had to battle state leadership in order to implement the mandate. The company scored a win in a legal battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who banned vaccine passports back in April. The cruise line won in federal court, but now faces an appeal. "It's beyond bizarre. It's shameful," Del Rio said. "I mean, come on, give it up. This is a pandemic we are talking about, people are dying every day, Florida now is the epicenter of the epicenter. What does it take for common sense to rule?" he added. The cruise line has also implemented 74 protocols to keep guests and crew safe. But Del Rio laments the lack of government leadership at both the federal and state levels. "Here's a state that relies on tourism; it's the number one industry. And the number one priority of any hospitality business is to keep their customers safe," he said. Del Rio is confounded by how "the leadership in this country has not stood up to the realities of this pandemic, to require vaccinations, is beyond me." Meanwhile, he is hopeful the surge caused by the variant subsides soon, and that business can return to normal. "It's never going to go away, it's going to become an endemic situation," Del Rio said. "Society has learned to live with this virus," he added.
Recently researchers at University of Florida created a predictive model of the current surge in Florida. Out of this model the best case for the peak of the current COVID wave in Florida was August 18th. Other models from USF have the peak out at August 31st. However these models had several caveats including they expect no new mass gathering indoor events (e.g. schools opening), expected an increase in people voluntarily taking precautions (masks & social distancing), an increase in vaccinations (may have happened), assumes no new variants (this wave is Delta based), and the Delta variant had an R factor of 5. It should also be noted that most models are based on what happened with Delta in the U.K. which has a much higher vaccination rate than the U.S. Of course many of the caveats of this model may not hold true which would extend the peak of this wave in Florida out towards October. It should be noted also that the expected peak in the U.S. of this Delta wave is expected to be mid-October based on the COVID Modeling Hub. Hopefully the peaks occur sooner rather than later... and we see a decline in COVID cases in areas where hospitals are being overwhelmed.
Apparently an ounce of protection is not worth many pounds of cure -- in DeSantis' mind. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis promotes covid treatment, downplays vaccine effectiveness https://triblive.com/news/florida-g...id-treatment-downplays-vaccine-effectiveness/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held another event to promote Regeneron treatments for covid-19 on Monday, unveiling a new clinic at Camping World Stadium in Orlando amid the surge in cases and hospitalizations in the state. Asked why he hasn’t been promoting vaccinations with the same enthusiasm he has for the monoclonal antibody treatment, DeSantis downplayed the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing the spread of the virus and said “our entire vulnerable population has basically been vaccinated.” “Even though we’ve done all the nursing homes, for example, we still see people that are testing positive in the nursing homes,” DeSantis said. “So yeah, they’re vaccinated. That’s great. That was the right thing to do. I do think it reduced for at least a few months the number of infections in nursing homes. But it’s not just Florida, you’re seeing now more people are testing positive. So then what do you do?” Florida reported 15,962 hospitalizations Monday, according to the federal Department of Health and Human Services, along with 25,991 new cases of covid-19 as of Saturday. DeSantis held his second event since Friday promoting the use of Regeneron, an antibody cocktail that received emergency FDA approval to treat those with the coronavirus late last year. It was used to treat former President Donald Trump when he was sick with covid-19 in October, with Trump later declaring a “cure.” The Camping World site, DeSantis said, is now open seven days a week for as many as 320 treatments a day. Those who have tested positive can schedule an appointment on patientportalfl.com, and a prescription is not necessary following state Surgeon General Scott Rivkees’ standing order last week. “This has been shown to dramatically reduce the likelihood that you’re admitted into the hospital,” DeSantis said. With vaccinations and Regeneron, “It’s not an either/or. You want to do both. If you’re vaccinated [and] you’re high risk, you still may want to get this treatment. Obviously, if you’re not vaccinated, and you’re high risk and you get infected, you want to get the treatment.” The Orlando site is the second in the state following one that opened last week in Jacksonville. As for why he wasn’t holding vaccination events, DeSantis pointed to the many he held over the winter and into the spring, saying “no governor did more public events.” He has not held an event specifically promoting vaccines since May, however, the same day he announced a ban on businesses requiring so-called “vaccination passports.” DeSantis was criticized by some anti-vaccination activists when he made remarks in favor of vaccines in June. A spokesperson called such criticism “clickbait,” according to Politico. Of late, he’s talked about how vaccines weren’t as successful at preventing transmission as previously thought, though they were successful in preventing severe illness and hospitalization. “The vaccines are helping to reduce severe outcomes, not protecting against transmission to the extent that we had hoped,” DeSantis said. DeSantis also said the Regeneron treatments, which usually cost between $1,500 and $6,500, according to CBS News, will not cost the state any money. “The Trump administration basically just bought out all of the monoclonal antibodies once they were being developed,” DeSantis said. “So it does not cost the state of Florida any money to get here. And it does not cost the patients any money to receive it.” Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani criticized DeSantis, arguing that while the governor is “not a full-blown anti-vaxxer, it’s like he doesn’t want to upset those who don’t support the vaccine.” DeSantis “was almost waving a ‘mission accomplished’ banner a few months ago, and he’s now finding himself in a situation where he’s trying to normalize the current hospitalization rates by promoting a treatment versus promoting prevention,” Eskamani said. “It’s more ‘when you get sick’ versus preventing you from getting sick.”
So if you're wondering why DeSantis is doing everything possible to make people sick, let's meet his biggest donor.
Make sure his buddy, Abbott gets some also... DeSantis top donor invests in COVID drug governor promotes https://apnews.com/article/joe-bide...rus-pandemic-4d0d18b24e0dd41de2424e19b3ed994f Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has been criticized for opposing mask mandates and vaccine passports — is now touting a COVID-19 antibody treatment in which a top donor’s company has invested millions of dollars. DeSantis has been flying around the state promoting Regeneron, a monoclonal antibody treatment that was used on then-President Donald Trump after he tested positive for COVID-19. The governor first began talking about it as a treatment last year. Citadel, a Chicago-based hedge fund, has $15.9 million in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceutical, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin has donated $10.75 million to a political committee that supports DeSantis — $5.75 million in 2018 and $5 million last April. (More at above url)
In DeSantis' twisted world, he wants to fire any official who promotes proper public health practices during a pandemic whose current wave is overrunning Florida. Florida threatens to remove school officials who disobey DeSantis https://www.politico.com/states/flo...school-officials-who-disobey-desantis-1390160 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ fight over school mask mandates took a dramatic turn on Tuesday after the state Board of Education ruled two defiant school districts broke state law and threatened to remove local elected officials for disobeying the GOP governor. School leaders in Alachua County and Broward County, who are resisting DeSantis’ order banning mask mandates, now could face a range of possible punishments for defying the DeSantis administration, which has taken a hard line against enacting additional Covid-19 precautions despite a record-breaking surge in cases and hospitalizations brought on by the Delta variant. And yet even as these counties were hounded for opposing DeSantis, school leaders in other counties — including Miami-Dade, Florida’s largest school district — are considering their own mask mandates to battle the coronavirus, signaling that the weekslong battle over face coverings in Florida is far from finished. (More at above url)
best thing is for the school districts to collectively sue and decide this immediately. Governor shoudl not micromanage the school system. For the few parents throwing a shit fit over masks.... they can home school..