Florida in the 'Red Zone' when it comes to Covid 19, and Gov. ain't doin nothin'

[QuietRiot]

https://www.wfla.com/community/health/coronavirus/white-house-report-florida-is-red-zone-for-coronavirus-needs-to-take-immediate-action/

 

I'll start it with the opening few sentences:

Members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force are seeing red in Florida.

A recent report on the spread of COVID-19 in the state shows officials need to take immediate action to slow the spread of the virus.

The report, obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, breaks down the success of the state’s efforts to control and prevent the spread of coronavirus. It shows Florida in a ‘red zone’ with “unrelenting community spread” and “inadequate mitigation”.

The comments section of the social media pages of local news sites are booming with both Covid advocates and naysayers. Not sure if anyone saw the news of DeSantis attending a well crowded high school football game, all completely maskless and packed in together. DeSantis is actually defiant against Covid 19 mitigation.

I am wondering if DeSantis gets enough pressure, he'll flip? Yes No? Do you think if he receives enough shame and called out for his holding out on the stats that are given to him by the White House, action could some how be taken against him?

[Wiseman2]

Is this politics or covid?

As far as covid, stay safe. Use your best judgement with masks, going out, social distancing, etc. Keep up to date via CDC about your area.

Hot spots are popping up everywhere, including many college towns.

 

[QuietRiot]

23 minutes ago, Wiseman2 said:

Is this politics or covid?

As far as covid, stay safe. Use your best judgement with masks, going out, social distancing, etc. Keep up to date via CDC about your area.

Hot spots are popping up everywhere, including many college towns.

 

The bolded, when it comes to Covid, I don't know what category to post in lol

[NuevoYorko]

No, DeSantis won't flip.  That's my opinion anyway.

He's held fast to his COVID denying since the start.  As tourism is FL's biggest industry, his motivation is to keep it going. 

As evidenced in at least one thread here and all over social media and everyday life, so many people only take into consideration what they've personally experienced.  By now almost all of us have known people who've got COVID and it had very little impact on them. Less than the flu.  I personally know at least 10 people, none of whom were seriously ill.  This "teaches" that it's not really a problem and reinforces the ideas that taking it seriously is a construct of THE LEFT and THE MEDIA.   People here, as elsewhere on the internets,  have said that it should be allowed to "burn through" the country.  DeSantis and the rest of those politicos are counting on that sentiment to keep them going.

Now that the vaccine is beginning to roll out we can see a big push against even taking it.  The (manufactured) freak out over how it will give you COVID or allow Bill Gates to control your mind outweigh the concern about COVID for oneself as well as the general population. 

I've even seen many posts from people who say that for a virus that ONLY kills 1% of our population, why is a vaccine even a thing.

DeSantis  (and others) are speaking to all those people and he has plenty of company in doing so.  Whoever would prefer not to have the virus or, maybe more importantly, not to participate in bringing serious illness or death to other people, has to fend for themselves.

Edited December 15, 2020 by NuevoYorko

[introverted1]

Florida is in the bottom 10 states for cases per thousand.  It's at 46.5 cases per 100K versus 80.2 in California and 52 in NY.  States with the highest rates are Rhode Island and Tennessee.  (source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html) .  This could change, of course, but for now, there is nothing to suggest that states with more restrictions (CA, NY) are faring better than other places.

Florida has a high percentage of elderly, a large concentration of nursing homes, and high population density in the hardest hit area, all of which have impacted its numbers.

There is a cost to shutdowns:  people forego medical tests and treatments -- a recent article mentioned that cancer screenings alone have dropped 40%, -- more people are unemployed, domestic violence and child abuse increase, businesses close, more people fall into poverty. While there has been intense media focus on the cost of covid, there has been virtually no coverage of the costs of containing the virus.

It's interesting to me that, in country where 72% of the population is considered overweight, and where the CDC states that being overweight is the #1 risk factor for a poor outcome with covid, there has been no public messaging about the importance of losing weight, eating right, and exercising as ways to reduce risk from the virus. Not saying that should be the only public message, but it's been conspicuously absent.

It's sad that the virus has become a political tool. Whether you think it's been over-hyped or not taken seriously enough, there has been political manipulation and distortion for both positions.

[Ellener]

30 minutes ago, introverted1 said:

there has been virtually no coverage of the costs of containing the virus.

There hasn't been a whole lot of attempt to contain Covid 19, but where there has been it has been covered if you look at a range of media sources rather than just one. Each media now seems to have its 'pet topic'with regard to it all!

Do you feel safe? @QuietRiot The christmas event I went to Sunday the audience was a bunch of elderly grumbling people who don't believe. In Covid I mean, not Santa.

 

[introverted1]

Just now, Ellener said:

There hasn't been a whole lot of attempt to contain Covid 19, but where there has been it has been covered if you look at a range of media sources rather than just one. Each media now seems to have its 'pet topic'with regard to it all!

One cost I've seen discussed is that cancer screenings are down by 40% but even that doesn't really explain the impact.  How many more people will be diagnosed at a later stage than if they'd been screened when they should?  What is the "cost" of that in both disease progression, disease severity, and earlier death?

Brookings Institute says

Quote

Our analyses suggest that the emotional costs of the pandemic are much higher for the poor and vulnerable than they are for the rich, heightening deep pre-existing inequities in well-being in the U.S and many other countries.

 I've not seen much written about or attempting to quantify the emotional costs.

Quote

The National EMS Information System (NEMSIS) provides first responder data for 46 million respondents from 2017-2020.[5] In March-July of 2020 compared to the same period for 2019 and 2018, there was a sharp increase in calls activated by drug overdoses and deaths, mental and behavioral issues, and the need for naloxone, and in refusals to go to the hospitals by overdose victims.[6] While the NEMSIS data only covers a fraction of actual deaths, it is collected in real time, allowing us to follow changing trends. EMS calls for opioid-related activities, for example, increased from roughly 2,000 per week in February and March 2019 to almost 5,000 per week in the same time period for 2020. Calls for mental and behavioral problems increased from just under 35,000 per week in the same time period for 2019 to almost 45,000 per week in 2020.

Increases in drug and alcohol use have also been largely absent from media reporting (as compared to the relentless drumbeat of covid case numbers).

To be clear:  I am not saying we shouldn't be concerned about covid.  We should be.  But not to the exclusion of everything else.  Right now, it seems our politicians are falling into one of two camps: address covid at all costs, no matter what havoc it wreaks on economic, emotional and health measures OR let covid run its course as just one more "seasonal" illness that is no worse than any other and accept the deaths as unavoidable.  Neither position is logical, imo.  It seems to me that we are far enough along that we should be able to calculate the impact -- on overall health and economics -- of proposed actions, and be guided by that analysis. We should know, for instance, whether more people are harmed or helped by a lockdown.  We should be able to calculate the measurable impacts of lockdowns across multiple metrics, not just infection or case fatality rates. Instead, what we have is incessant arguing over how much is enough (or too much), with no data to support either position.   

[Ellener]

1 minute ago, introverted1 said:

cancer screenings are down by 40%

I don't do cancer screenings myself, but I imagine most people will delay such things until the pandemic settles down, yes.

The pandemic will definitely re-evaluate medicine as what is essential, what is for profit, what is optimum.

Prevention is better than cure but as you say above, people have gained weight and alcohol consumption risen. There will be heart consequences later.

The mental health toll will be huge:

Florida has had over 20 000 recorded deaths from Covid 19, Texas has had 24, 582. New York state has had over 35 000 deaths, over 25 000 in New York. I won't quote them all, but it's a lot of loss and bereavement.