What's DeSantis' biggest roadblock to re-election in 2022? His own party. DeSantis’ easy path to reelection just hit a Republican roadblock The GOP-led Florida Senate surprised many by bucking the governor ahead of the November election. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/17/florida-republicans-defy-desantis-00009651
The Republican state legislature -- especially the state Senate -- is completely tired of bills being forced on them by DeSantis which only serve to position the governor for a 2024 presidential run but provide no benefit for the state. So the Senate as started voting these down -- thus making DeSantis look like a weak leader who cannot get his policy initiatives through. Of course, this undermines DeSantis' 2022 governor's run better than any Democratic candidate ever could. Bottom line: The Florida State Senate finally started to show some background and not put up with DeSantis's bullying. They are making a clear statement that they are not the governor's little minions.
We already knew that the racist DeSantis administration was denying doses of monoclonal antibody treatments to black people by simply not sending doses to hospitals located in poor minority areas. Instead Ron DeSantis sent mAb doses to white well-to-do areas and to private concierge medical firms. The DeSantis administration attempted to claim race was not a factor -- but distribution patterns show otherwise. We know the obvious end results of this. Minorities in Florida did not received the Covid treatments they needed. But there is more -- the majority of the people DeSantis treated with monoclonal antibodies did not need the treatment -- all the while the minorities are dying. Race is a risk factor for COVID, but Florida’s plan for a scarce therapy is color blind https://flipboard.com/@miamiherald/...EgNh83Xw:a:3195397-ffbeeb9013/miamiherald.com Healthiest people got monoclonal antibodies.’ COVID therapy goes to those who need it less https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article258510993.html
As noted earlier Florida basically has no clue what Covid variants are circulating since DeSantis refuses to have the state fund & report on Covid variants. Positive test results in Florida are currently only sampled for genetic sequencing to determine variant type by happenstance at hospitals & private test labs -- only 1% over the course of the entire pandemic -- and much lower than that in recent months. For comparison the state of Washington is sequencing up to 20% of all cases; North Carolina reported to have sequenced 9% in its most recent month. ‘What we have in Florida is inadequate:’ State’s COVID monitoring system leaves public blind to new variants https://www.sun-sentinel.com/corona...0220214-a2iewposmvbrlacski5vudeiae-story.html Two years into the pandemic, Florida’s monitoring system for COVID has left the public blind to the arrival of highly contagious variants. Florida sends only a tiny fraction of all positive COVID tests to labs for genetic sequencing to learn their strain of coronavirus — only 1% over the entire pandemic. Some states, such as Washington, are sequencing up to 20% of all cases. With so few samples sequenced in Florida, health officials lack the ability to track variants and their prevalence across the state until cases surge. The delta wave showed just how vulnerable Florida is to mutations that arrive undetected. Floridians learned of the first confirmed case of delta in the state in mid-June when the new variant was reported on a federal COVID tracker. By then, the number of cases had begun to soar, followed by hospitalizations, and then record deaths. “What we have in Florida is inadequate,” said Dr. Glenn Morris, director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida. “What we really need is a system that looks at selected strains across the state, does sequencing and puts it in a model to understand what strains are present and how they may be moving throughout different parts of the state.” Scientists sequence a positive COVID test to decipher the genetic code of the particular coronavirus that infected someone. While hospitals, universities, public and private health labs sequence samples from patients to learn which variants are present, Florida lacks a comprehensive and cohesive system to analyze and share data. The Florida Department of Health documents the number of COVID cases, vaccinations and deaths weekly on its website, but does not publicly release the variants identified in the state or their proportion. Scientists say sequencing alone won’t stop the arrival or spread of more variants, but better detection and communication would give Florida’s counties a chance to act as highly infectious strains becomes more prevalent. Even now, as Florida emerges from the omicron wave, infections aren’t falling as fast as experts had forecasted. Could a subvariant known as “stealth omicron,” or BA.2, be spreading far more widely than detected? Florida so far has recorded 15 cases of the BA.2 omicron variant. Given how quickly the new subvariant has spread elsewhere, researchers believe it likely accounts for more. BA.2 “probably was first introduced in Florida in early January, so it’s been here about a month,” said Thomas Hladish, a research scientist at the University of Florida. “Florida has always had problems with detection. Our surveillance system in Florida is not good. “My spitball estimate: I would guess 50% of cases now are BA.2 or something on that order.” With infection numbers still hovering around 10,000 a day in Florida, COVID-19 will continue to sicken more people and strain health care resources for longer than expected. Morris said the best example of the need for early detection of new variants is what happened with monoclonal antibodies, the COVID treatment Florida’s governor has promoted during the past few months. As the new omicron wave of COVID swept across Florida, clinics continued to use two monoclonal-antibodies treatments that worked against delta, including one made by Regeneron. Federal health officials warned those two treatments did not work against omicron. “What we needed to know is where omicron was and in what areas it would still make sense to be using Regeneron and in which sections of the state it didn’t make sense at all,” Morris said. “When the state was transitioning from one variant to another that was the point where it would have been useful to know.” Researchers are asking for better surveillance not just in Florida but throughout the United States, concerned because the coronavirus, like all viruses, mutates as it moves through large groups of people. If a new highly contagious mutation emerges like omicron did in South Africa, it could move through the population quickly, causing harm before detected. RELATED: New omicron variant is likely in Florida, but it will take some time to confirm that » Dr. Jason Lane of ChenMed, primary medical care centers for seniors, worries about that scenario. “If a variant is homegrown and turns out as devastating as delta, or evolves in the U.S. and we miss it, that’s what worries me about our deficiencies. Hopefully, there is a lot being done to beef it up,” said Lane, national medical director, clinical strategy and outcomes. When asked if Florida has made any advancements in surveillance of variants or has improvements underway, Department of Health spokesman Jeremy Redfern responded: “The Department of Health operates three laboratories capable of genomic sequencing, but our labs are just part of a larger picture. We work alongside multiple partners, like laboratories contracted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and academic institutions, that are capable of genomic sequencing. The CDC is the primary agency for all public health-related genomic surveillance in the United States. It is best to think of Florida as a puzzle piece that is part of the overall surveillance puzzle.” The private sector jumps in Seeing a need for real-time data, Walgreens has launched its ownCOVID-19 Index for the public to help identify the spread of virus variants across the U.S. Its monitoring index will be updated using PCR tests administered by Walgreens and analyzed by its laboratory testing partner, Aegis Sciences. The PCR tests come from patients at 5,000 Walgreens pharmacies, including 800 in Florida. The drugstore has one of the largest databases of COVID samples in the country. Walgreens Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kevin Ball said Aegis is able to identify whether a sample is omicron in 24 hours. The Walgreens COVID-19 tracker shows 100% of its COVID samples in Florida are omicron. Ball said the scope and timeliness of Walgreens’ national surveillance system should help catch future variants early and curb their spread. Eventually, he would like the tracker to reflect the makeup of cases within communities as well as provide a statewide overview. “We would like to get to the geo-level. This is a process we are trying to get towards so we can identify an outbreak as it is occurring, what variant is driving it and offer guidance on what to do in those moments,” he said. Florida’s universities and hospitals also are sequencing positive test samples, mostly to learn what strains are appearing in students or patients. And while anyone who does sequencing reports findings into a global database, Florida lacks an infrastructure to extract and share that same data on a statewide scale — to catch a new variant early on. “What one needs is to look statewide and get a sense of patterns emerging at a statewide level,” said Morris at UF. “We have the capacity to sequence and we have utilized it, but we are limited. We are looking at samples from within Alachua County primarily. We don’t know exactly what’s going on in other parts of Florida so we can’t create a unified picture of what’s happening.” Morris said UF and other universities have specialized researchers who could interpret the data and detect mutation strains within the state. Having this information could guide public health response, he said. “There is not a statewide system in Florida which has fully pulled in the capacity present in the state.” Wastewater may be the answer Wastewater monitoring could be the way to find rapidly spreading variants faster. Wastewater monitoring has been used during the omicron surge by scientists in New York City, Boston and Miami and at universities such as the University of Miami to identify surges of cases in certain neighborhoods or dorms even before a variant has been identified from test swabs. People infected with the coronavirus shed it in their feces so a high level may show that a variant is at work, warranting a closer look. In Florida, only Pinellas and Brevard counties participate in the CDC’s national wastewater surveillance and show COVID in 100% of their water samples submitted. Some states, such as North Carolina, have half their counties, or more, participating. The CDC dashboard provides a color-coded view of virus levels in wastewater in participating communities. Miami-Dade does its own wastewater surveillance and updates a county website weekly. Already, the monitoring has proved useful, said Raghavender Joshi, assistant director of wastewater operations for Miami-Dade Water & Sewer. When the wastewater showed a spike in cases in December, the findings gave the county hospitals a few extra days to prepare for the omicron surge. Biobot, which does the sequencing and analysis of the sewage for Miami-Dade and counties in 35 states, said one county in Delaware used sewage analysis to more strategically place mobile testing centers and another in Massachusetts used the information to guide its schools’ policies. CDC spokesman Brian Katzowitz said the agency is adding 400 new sites to the national wastewater surveillance system in the coming weeks and it is possible some will be in Florida.
Some key stats for the NPC showing that more people love Florida than ever. Original estimates for 2020/2021 revenue for Florida prior to COVID: $34.4B. After COVID hit, this was revised down to $30.9B as travel both internationally and domestically ground to a halt. Actual numbers for the 20/21 revenue year? $36.2B LOL Business formations in Florida in 2021 increased 61% vs. 2019 as people moved to start businesses here. Q4 2021 Florida visitation: 30.9M visitors higher than 2019 pre-covid. 2nd quarter in a row higher than equivalent 2019 quarter. People came to the Freedom state. Three times as many Canadians as well vs. similar period in 2020. December 2020/Jan 2021, Canadians came for vaccines they couldn't get in Canada. LOL In the last quarter, Florida has surpassed New York in international travel visits. LOL again. NY had been number 1 for decades. 2021 had 118 million visitors from across the United States visited Florida. The most in the history of the state of Florida. Obviously they were coming because they were worried about COVID in Florida and the job DeSantis was doing, right NPC? Many governors and politicians from outside Florida who were pro-lockdown came to Florida to celebrate freedom from the very same laws they supported. 2021 saw 17.3B in hotel revenue - the highest in the history of the State of Florida. Demand for vacation rentals is at an all-time high, up 30% from 2019. According to the National Travel & Tourism Office, 30.3% of overseas visitors went to Florida in 2020 an increase of 7% vs. 2019! In 2020... DeSantis. For the win. NPCs crying everywhere at his success.
For the residents of Florida it is good to see the Omicron wave declining -- as it is in many other states which endured it first. However -- as noted in previous articles-- Florida is woefully inadequately prepared to identify and address the next Covid variant breakout. The mere declining of a wave which provided more cases and deaths than the Delta wave is not any reason to let your guard down. Florida sees a sharp decline in COVID cases https://www.wctv.tv/2022/02/22/florida-sees-sharp-decline-covid-cases/ TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - There has been a sharp decrease in COVID cases in the month of February. Florida cases decreased nearly 60% last week, according to a report released by the Florida Department of Health. Leon County’s cases also dropped nearly 70% over the last week, according to the CDC’s website. About a week and a half ago, Florida A&M University was seeing about a 20% positive rate, but now it’s a little over 10%. Tanya Tatum with FAMU Health Services said the site is still testing between 600 and1200 people a day. Tatum predicts to continue seeing peaks and valleys of cases since there is still a large unvaccinated population in the State of Florida. She also said that although cases numbers are declining, they are still quite high especially compared to what they were in the delta variants phase of the pandemic. “A week ago, our numbers here in the Tallahassee area, while we were showing a real significant decline,” Tatum said. “They were as high as what they were with our last spike this past fall. So, you know, kind of take it all in context.” She said this recent decrease in cases means we can relax for now, but that people should be prepared to resume stricter COVID precautions in the future if necessary. A new testing site is set to open up in Tallahassee this Wednesday at the Philadelphia Primitive Baptist Church.