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[#1]

[JMOldeVintage]

Previous Seven Days - Florida Deaths - 409.
Maybe the Provinces with the couple hundred cases are comparing themselves to Florida? That would not be good. Maybe they should wait & see? Or do a very gradual opening process & see if one specific move might suddenly cause problems?

June 3rd - Florida's last Daily Report - 1,878 New Cases    
July 9th - Weekly Report - 23,747 (average over 3,000 new cases per day)
Then you see the report released yesterday & Florida now averaging Over 15,000 New Cases a Day.

Hospitals are beginning to restrict visitations, cancel elective surgeries & one was even offering $500. bonuses to nurses for working an extra shift. Our rural County had 21 people hospitalized - that is saying a lot.

Wal Mart has now stated corporate employees must get vaccinated "stat". They have stopped short of requiring hourly employees to do so, but they have issued a Mask Requirement for all employees regardless of vaccination status. Here in Florida (maybe elsewhere?) they will have a 'greeter' at the entrances handing out masks to customers, hoping they wear it guess.

Other than our trip north, we haven't changed our habits here at home. The weekly grocery run, masked up. Keeping our Mailman busy - if we can find something online & have it delivered, it beats running into the Box or DIY store. Our local news has reported that doctors don't see this "peaking" in Florida until the end of August; September will be the slow slide back to "acceptable". 

Everyone, please stay safe & healthy.

[JMOldeVintage]

I feel like a broken record, but yesterday Florida's numbers broke a State Record - 21,683 new cases. That is since the pandemic started.

Again, stay out of Florida for a while - we have more than alligators "stalking" the unsuspecting tourists. 

Everyone, stay safe and healthy.

[finickypatternshop]

Florida is most often used as an example of 'how not to pandemic'. I hear little of the rest of US news but Florida usually makes it to our news, sometimes other red states, mostly their low vaccination rate. I think Canada now has most vaccinated but it is definitely slowing down. There are some projections of a 4th wave if more don't get the shot and if restrictions are lifted too soon. Several provinces have Con premiers and they make those decisions so very likely by fall will will be shut down again. I am staying home as much as possible but worry for those who can't, my son has worked all along and his wife is working two days in office and three at home. I am feeling worn out so mostly ignore it all and control what I can.

[JMOldeVintage]

"Florida is most often used as an example of 'how not to pandemic'. "

It really is a shame that Politicians have so much control over a Health Crisis.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that we'll be able to take a fall trip somewhere, but who knows. In the meantime we're trying to stay busy with little projects - it's just that we got so many done last year!

[JMOldeVintage]

From Local/Tampa Fox News:

"After announcing last week she would release daily reports on new COVID-19 cases in Florida, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried says the Florida Department of Health was withholding data from the weekend as cases reached new record highs last week. 

Fried, who announced back in June she would run for governor for the state of Florida, said in a tweet Monday she would post new COVID-19 case data as soon as it was released by the "governor's health department." .....

Florida registered its largest-ever single-day total of new COVID-19 cases -- 21,683 -- on Friday, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

This is the first time the state has not reported daily case numbers. However, it is notable considering Florida accounted for 20% of all new cases in the US on the most recent day data was available." 

Never mind that the State no longer publishes daily numbers for everyone to see. Apparently over the weekend the State did not even send a report to the CDC. As Ms. Fried stated, there will be a huge date dump sometime today. I know, it may not be a pre-planned way to hide terrible numbers, to give them a built in excuse that the numbers are from more than one day. But it's hard not to think that.

[JMOldeVintage]

"U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday urged Republican leaders in Florida and Texas - home to roughly a third of all new U.S. COVID-19 cases - to follow public health guidelines on the pandemic or "get out of the way" as the country struggles to contain the rapid spread of the disease's Delta variant."

This from Reuters News. But I saw this in a clip of Pres. Biden's press conference. He just seemed calm, was typically soft spoken even when chastising the Governors. I had to smile.

[OwlTalk]

I'm glad he finally said it--- just looking at the numbers (those that have been given, that is) is enough to bring pause to any Texan or Floridian. Heck, I'm concerned and I don't even live there (although we have our own issues in California, lol, what with the fires, Covid, the Republican Recall, homelessness, crazy humid  heat, etc.) !

Of course, Desantis had to shoot off his mouth with a sad little comeback to show how "tough" he is with Biden.

I'm glad you're being careful, JMOldeVintage! Keep it up and stay safe!

[JMOldeVintage]

Norwegian Cruise Lines & Florida are now in court. The Cruise Line wants only vaccinated passengers, but DeSantis has said they - The Business - cannot do this. 
But then he gets all huffy for the cameras, telling Pres. Biden he's going to stand in the way of any Federal Government actions that might affect businesses in Florida. Um, what is the definition of hypocritical?

Then Florida has what they "Hope Scholarships" which allow kids who are bullied to get out of the school they "should" attend.
Now, our State Dept. of Education is discussing ways to use this Scholarship Program so that kids who don't want to go to "their assigned school" because that local/county School Board has established some sort of Mask Mandate or "Policy".

DeSantis has an executive order out there banning Mask Mandates in Schools. Some School boards have enacted them anyway, in "defiance" of DeSantis. Others have established "Policies" - one County saying the parents must sign a release Opting Out of the School Mask Policy.

But apparently Florida is now determined to equate Masks with Bullying. I'd like to say I'm surprised at this insanity, but sadly, I'm not.

[JMOldeVintage]

And so, it's done: Florida's Education Dept. has allowed the use of the Vouchers for students feeling harassed by COVID mitigation steps:

"‘COVID-19 harassment’ means any threatening, discriminatory, insulting, or dehumanizing verbal, written or physical conduct an individual student suffers in relation to, or as a result of, school district protocols for COVID-19, including masking requirements, the separation or isolation of students, or COVID-19 testing requirements, that have the effect of substantially interfering with a student’s educational performance," the rule reads."

[JMOldeVintage]

From Reuters August 7th:
"Australia saw a record daily number of new coronavirus cases this year on Saturday, with the country's most populous states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland recording a total of 361 cases of the highly infectious Delta variant.

With about 15 million people in the three states, or 60% of Australia's population, under a strict lockdown, the country also reported five coronavirus-related deaths, one of the highest this year."...

From Reuters today, August 8th:
"Australia's three most populous states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland reported a total of 282 COVID-19 new locally acquired infections on Sunday, with authorities struggling to quell outbreaks of the Delta variant.

NSW reported 262 fresh cases, down from the pandemic high of 319 seen on Saturday, with more than five million people in Sydney regions along the coastline under a lockdown for six weeks already."...

It's being reported that Australians are upset about the latest round of lock-downs. I get it. Everyone has covid fatigue but I will add that at least your Country has your Health Interests in mind.

In the meantime Florida's weekly numbers reported on Friday, August 6th:
134,506 cases    616 Deaths      18.9% Positivity Rate      13,747 Hospitalizations
On Saturday, the numbers reported:  23,903 Cases (a State record since the start of the pandemic)  93 Deaths
If I read our newspaper's reporting correctly our ruralish County was at about 100 new cases per day in the last weekly State report.

With a population of maybe 21.5 - 22 Million people I'm thinking Florida might rival some Countries. It makes me think that if Florida was a foreign Country, the CDC would issue a travel health advisory.

Everyone please stay safe & healthy.

[JMOldeVintage]

From NBC News - Apparently this applies to Norwegian Cruise Lines only, but I'd think it could have implications in the future for other Cruise Operators. The ruling took place sometime yesterday & neither DeSantis or the Florida Dept. of Health have responded. 

"A federal judge in Florida issued an order Sunday allowing Norwegian Cruise Line to require passengers to prove they've been inoculated against Covid-19, despite a state ban that prohibits companies from adopting such measures.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams of the state's southern district ruled that the cruise line would be "irreparably injured" by the state prohibition, leaving it no way to ensure that thousands of passengers who will remain in close quarters for days have been vaccinated.

The decision, which is preliminary and will remain in effect as the company pursues a permanent ruling, comes a week before its first scheduled departure in more than a year."...

[JMOldeVintage]

A "No Win" situation pushed by Faux - Brett Giroir stating it is the Biden Admin.'s fault that the FDA has not finalized approval of covid vaccines giving people the ability to question the safety of their "emergency approval" only.
Yep, but I'd bet if the Admin. or Pres. Biden himself had pushed them, Faux & Guests would then be saying "the only reason it got approved is because of..."
Wouldn't it be nice if the Faux Hosts, Guests & Stories focused on getting people the Vaccine instead of featuring college kids suing their school for mask &/or vaccine mandate? Or various US Congressional covidiots spewing utter nonsense on Twitter & elsewhere?

In the meantime, our Planet has been placed on "red alert" as fires and heat waves keep hitting so many different Countries.
The infra-structure bill passed the US Senate. IMO the House should treat this as a "stand alone" and not try to mix & mingle with other legislation. 
Gov. Cuomo resigned. In the scheme of things it probably won't have much of a national affect, but I do think they will get to bottom of all the various accusations & issues.

Everyone stay safe & healthy.

[OwlTalk]

From what I'm understanding the medications / cures / etc. being used in the hospitals for the COVID-19 patients are also not totally FDA approved. Supposedly most of them have received emergency approval only, like the vaccines.

[JMOldeVintage]

@OwlTalk - Yes, even the monoclonal treatments are under 'emergency approval'. But that hasn't stopped our Governor from getting out there & hyping it as he did earlier today up in the Jacksonville area. 
He's even setting up a "rapid response" team that will have the treatment at the ready.
Now of course, it is in limited supply & is basically used for those who meet certain criteria. Age & other factors taken into consideration. It also needs to be administered as soon as possible - so people having to wait days for a test & then days for results could be out of luck.

DeSantis says that it's a shame more people don't know/didn't know about it since it would have saved so many people from landing in the Hospital with covid.
But...say that maybe if DeSantis had treated this surge as the emergency it (was) or rather IS, less people would have become ill. Less people to get it & pass it on to others. Well, no. Asking people to wear a mask when they enter a store is, oh so insulting.

And to think DeSantis said one of the reasons he did the executive order on masks in schools is because kids wouldn't wear them correctly. Okay, so ten year old kids can have their own smart phone & know how to use every feature, but they wouldn't figure out the correct way to wear a mask? 

And to think he's already raised over 41 Million for his re-election campaign.

[JMOldeVintage]

The earthquake in Haiti and now hurricane Grace literally raining down on the Country, this is such a sad situation.

Afghanistan is a quagmire. While I agree with Pres. Biden's decision to leave, I do wonder why there wasn't more planning for assisting those individuals who were on the ground acting as guides, interpreters & informants. Then the Country's Army & Leaders apparently giving up without even a bit of a protest? I'll admit there is probably quite a bit of information we'll never know.

But then, to have Faux News now start banging the drums about the USA's plans to bring some of the Afghan refugees to some Army Bases here in the States, that they're going to receive "priority status" when it comes to background checks, etc. over a "promise" the US made at the start of the war. "Who made the promise?" they want the answer. "Why aren't our allies in the EU taking in some refugees?" they ask. "We need answers" & welcome Sen. Rick Scott's (etal) calls for an investigation. 

Apparently Faux has forgotten all the 'fine points' of how & why the Allies of the USA jumped in to help us back in 2001.

Local Florida News not looking up much. Friday's (13th) weekly Covid report = 151,415 cases,  1071 deaths,  Positivity Rate of 19.3%
Oh, there was a lull over the weekend with 16K+ & 17K+ new cases. But then we went back up to 21K+ on Monday.

A Tampa area School District has over 5K kids & 300+ staff in quarantine or isolation. One County just North of Tampa asking people to reserve the 911 System for "real emergencies" & that if they "just" suffering from issues from Covid, to call their Doctor or the County Health Dept.
The State's Board of Education is discussing ways to punish Local School Boards who have outright enacted Mask Mandates. As one of the local board members said, 'DeSantis & company need to decide how important their desire for in-person classes is & then let the local people make decisions on how to get there'. 

Then Texas' Governor tested positive for Covid. Apparently he was being tested daily & upon his positive results, went into quarantine but also received the monoclonal treatment. (Bet he didn't have to get in line & wait for that like most folks would have) Saw a news clip showing the Governor at some GOP/State gathering on Monday (or over the weekend?) Not a mask to be seen & absolutely no social distancing. 

While I joke about it, saying I wonder if the next Covid Variant will be named after DeSantis or Abbott, I am still amazed that neither of these State Leaders appears to be taking this surge seriously.

Everyone Please stay safe & healthy.

[JMOldeVintage]

Florida should be so proud. Officially Covid Cases are at 3,027,954 Cases, 42,253 Deaths since the pandemic started.
Friday's Weekly Report - 150,118 cases    1,486 Deaths    Positivity Rate - 19.8%
Children age 18 & younger are accounting for 25% of all new cases reported.
But let's not have kids wear masks. Yes, give School Districts that "defy" the Governor & require masks 48 hours to change their requirements or lose State Funds.
In the mean time, the Lambda Variant is being closely watched here in Florida - enough new cases of it to raise concerns. Apparently as transmissible as the Delta, but vaccines less effective.
As I've said before, do not have Florida on your "Vacation List".

To everyone out west - I wish I could send you some of our humidity & rain. The last weekend we had almost 5" of rain locally in about 4 to 5 hours.
To everyone in the northeast, do pay attention to Hurricane Henri. It appears parts of New York & most of New England are in its sights.

Everyone, Please Stay Safe & Healthy.

Edited to Add - Hospitalizations in Florida have reached the point where many hospitals have over 90% of their ICU beds occupied.
Well, the City of Orlando has requested that residents reduce their water usage. 
Apparently they use liquid oxygen in their water treatment facilities. The supply of liquid oxygen is diminishing quickly.
Orlando has stated that if their supplies run low they will need to issue a City Wide "Boil Water Notice".

[finickypatternshop]

That is just crazy and must be so frustrating. Scary it is affecting kids and still some won't get a vaccine to protect them. Yikes about the boil water thing, who knew. The nut job trump supporters on social media are now claiming the ones with the vaccine are giving it to those without. They think that makes sense but they also think he is returning, any day now. This forum needs an eye rolling emoticon.

We are up to 10 cases in my little city and I get worried. There were cases again at my sons job, they caught them with rapid tests on a Monday morning and sent them home so hopefully it doesn't spread. 

I have been paying so little attention that I hadn't heard of the Lambda variant. Trudeau called an election for Sept 20th so I've been paying more attention to that. Doesn't that sound nice, a 36 day election. Still garbage flying around but at least not for months.

Stay safe everyone. 

[JMOldeVintage]

@finickypatternshop - How I envy you. An election in September! Maybe the candidates feel the smallest need to concentrate on the issues & not make it a big side show?  

Do hope you & your family are staying safe.
It is amazing how different Countries look at the pandemic. I think New Zealand "shut down their borders" recently over one case. Australia is apparently wavering on their lockdown rules. Cases going up but protests up too. It seems the EU is unsure what to do. Try & live "normally" during the pandemic, take small measures to control the virus, take major steps. The latest report is that they may bar US travelers again. 

And so much may be based on vaccination rates? Florida is at 51.1 % of the population fully vaccinated. Some States up in New England have 80% of their residents vaccinated. And yet those States will be the first to say masks on kids a must. It's as if they get the community responsibility part of a pandemic.  While it's as if Florida just wants to turn a blind eye to the pandemic & pretend it doesn't exist. 

A recent in-Florida poll has 51% of voters not approving of DeSantis' job as Governor. They feel that he's not only doing too much 2022 campaign nonsense, but they don't think he is, nor that he will, concentrate on Florida if re-elected. They think he only has the 2024 Presidential Election on his mind. 

Our County averaging about 100 new cases a day, I can't find any info. on Schools released by the County School Board.  The State set a new pandemic record for cases yesterday - 26,203. Hospitalizations up to 17,164 State Wide. So staying out of Florida is still my advice to anyone thinking of traveling here. 

[finickypatternshop]

I wonder if trumplican politicians have considered that their lack of action on the pandemic might be killing off their voters. Seems Dem supporters are getting vaccinated at a higher rate so an 'interesting' approach. Those who survive are likely to have lost a loved one or know someone who has, how will they see it as it unnecessarily continues. Some of the nuttier ones think the vaccinated are infecting them so maybe I am giving them too much credit.

@JMOldeVintage yes very short elections are good but I am still tired of listening to the crap, things i know are lies. There are anti-everything protestors following mostly Trudeau and it really shows that we have a small but vocal group of nuts here too. No surprise they are trump supporters.

Stay safe!

[JMOldeVintage]

Florida's Weekly Covid Report, August 27th - 151,749 Cases;   16.8% positivity rate;  43,979 total deaths
Weekly Report Sept. 3rd - 129,240 Cases;   15.2% positivity rate;   46,324 total deaths
It's being reported that about 40K Floridians have used the monoclonal treatments made available. 
Hospitalizations are down to around 14,300. Fully vaccinated population has inched up to 57%. School cases & the number of people required to quarantine keeps rising.
Florida is still not a safe place to be. 

Since I last posted Louisiana got slammed by Hurricane Ida - many residents are still being advised that they won't have power for another 3 weeks. 10 people have been confirmed dead. 
Then the remnants of the storm hit the Northeast, leaving at least 50 people dead. They thought Henri was their challenge this summer, but Mother Nature sadly, had other ideas.

Then Afghanistan news. I'll be the first to say that Pres. Biden & all of his advisors should have probably prepared for the "unthinkable". The deaths of the servicemen & women is so sad. But I really dislike those who are trying to stir the pot & get people all riled up. From thinking Trump was doing the right thing - leaving the Country - to suddenly Pres. Biden not having done the right thing leaving the Country because now the US has no "boots on the ground intel", the frightening things that will probably happen to women's rights, the criticism for leaving military hardware behind, when of course there was the assumption we were leaving it for the Country's leaders & the army the US trained. 

There are reports that DC will be host to a rally sponsored by an ex-Trump aide. It's to show support for those arrested due to their action on January 6th. The newly enacted Texas abortion law & the Supreme Court's action (or lack of actually) is making the news. Then the hosts on Faux News making excuses & almost condoning people printing up &/or using fake covid vaccination cards. Oh, and using animal deworming medication is apparently okay with some too - seriously a group of Florida County council folks are (or have) written a letter to DeSantis requesting he okay it's use. 

Everyone please stay safe & healthy. 

[deeshandmades]

Hey, How is everyone? Well, here in Ohio, COVID cases are up, the GOP lawmakers have banned mask mandates in schools, and the GOP lawmakers just approved a 4 year map, that gives them an advantage in our future elections. Rigging our elections is what the "dems" do, right?

[JMOldeVintage]

Well, Florida's daily numbers are finally beginning to go down. The State's total now sit at  3,473,873 Cases,   50,811 Deaths. Hospitalizations fell to "just" 9,917 today. 
AARP is reporting from CDC/CMMS Data that 237 Nursing Home Residents & Staff died from covid during the 4 week period ending Aug. 22nd.
Florida reportedly sits at #49 for the percentage of nursing home workers vaccinated & #48 for number of residents vaccinated. Well, at least the State can't sink too much lower. Guess DeSantis needs to get back to work and do a better job of protecting the most vulnerable in the State of Florida.
Yes, DeSantis is still a covidiot, holding onto the State's ban on School mask mandates & is threatening to fine any business or city or county government if they require employees be vaccinated. At a press conference up near Gainesville one of his co-speakers apparently went on a rampage saying how vaccinations could change your rna/dna & some other wacky stuff. DeSantis never corrected the speaker, so one can only assume he agrees with the insanity.
Now apparently DeSantis is upset that the Biden Admin. is going to be distributing the monoclonal treatments differently. Right now Florida & 7 other southern States are using 70% of the treatments available. But I think the treatments are now going to be allocated to all States on a different basis (not first come, first served) & then the State will be responsible for distributing the treatments.
I'm thinking the Admin possibly wants to get ahead of any school related &/or cooler (cold) weather outbreaks so they're changing how they distribute. But this goes against DeSantis' "decree" that we should all act as if nothing is happening. If you get sick, "no big deal", and of course you don't need to exercise any precautionary measures.

Nationally there is the scheduled rally to protest the arrests of those who participated in the more violent parts of the January 6th insurrection. Temporary fencing going back up in DC around the Capitol Building. 
Alaska hospitals are beginning to ration care. 
Alabama saw one man who suffered a heart attack die due to local hospitals not having any ICU space. The hospital he went to contacted 43 other hospitals before they found one that had room for him & could handle his care. I think it was in Mississippi. He died later in the week.

I'm tempted to order the new Woodward book. All the GOP Senators jumping all over Gen. Milley for statements attributed to him. Even Faux News hopped on board, though they do seem to be backing off as more facts come out - that 'no' it wasn't a secret call, in fact there may have been up to 16 other people in on the call &/or knew about it. 

I haven't been watching how Florida is redistricting the State - actually there hasn't been much news about it. I just figure with the vast majority of State seats held by the GOP there will be shenanigans in their favor.

Am still hoping for fall trip this year before snow falls. Maybe it will happen but who knows.
Everyone stay safe & healthy.

[JMOldeVintage]

Scary News - Idaho is now under State Wide Crisis Care - Resources, Personnel & Bed Space are maxed out & then some. 

Florida announced they are joining about 20+ other States & are going to sue the Biden Administration over the vaccination mandate. Yes, this is good use of taxpayer dollars.

How sad is it that Public Health - the safety of people - has become a political issue.

[OwlTalk]

Supposedly, quite a few Idaho-ans (?) are driving over into Spokane, Washington for hospitalization and treatment--- Yikes!

[deeshandmades]

One of the Ohio republicans who voted to impeach trump won't see re-election. The other republican candidate got endorsed by trump, and trump is happy. This is all that matters anymore. Keeping trump happy.