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“There’s not very much science behind it,” DeSantis said of universal school masking, just days before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued recommendations urging that all teachers, staff and students of K-12 schools to mask up, even if they are vaccinated.
Leading health experts are stunned by DeSantis’ attack on the science behind school masking, pointing to a host of studies indicating that masks effectively limit COVID-19 transmission in the school setting. They argue there is strong evidence to show masks can keep infected individuals from spreading the virus on campus.
An internal document from the CDC, first obtained by The Washington Post, sheds light on how easily the delta variant can spread — and what it means for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
The variant is as contagious as the chickenpox and is more transmissible than the viruses that cause Ebola, the common cold and the seasonal flu, according to the CDC document.
Breakthrough cases of the delta variant for people who are vaccinated may be as transmissible as infections in unvaccinated individuals, the CDC said in its presentation.
“What we’ve learned … is that when we examine the rare or breakthrough infections and we look at the amount of virus in those people, it is pretty similar to the amount of virus in unvaccinated people,” Walensky told ABC News.
The CDC also says infections from the delta variant are “likely more severe.”
However, the risk for vaccinated people to contract delta is three times less likely than those who are unvaccinated. The risk of severe disease or death is also reduced by 10 times among the vaccinated population, the CDC said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday he would sign an executive order to give parents the right to ignore any COVID-19 school mask mandates such as the one in Broward County.
DeSantis said the Parents Bill of Rights he signed into law last month gives him the authority to issue an emergency rule “protecting the rights of parents to make this decision about wearing masks for their for their children.”
At an event before a largely maskless crowd at a restaurant in Cape Coral, DeSantis vowed he would not change his COVID policies despite the skyrocketing number of cases and hospitalizations in the state due to the rising prevalence of the highly infectious delta variant.
State universities are staying on track for a return to normal “pre-pandemic” operations as the fall semester approaches, while Florida grapples with a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Classes begin Aug. 23 for most universities. While universities remain poised to keep mask-wearing optional and discontinue limits on the numbers of people in classrooms, they are encouraging students, faculty and staff members to get vaccinated.
Most universities began publishing plans for a return to normalcy around the time the university system’s Board of Governors issued guidance in May.
“The State University System of Florida is pleased to announce that all 12 public universities expect to increase classroom occupancy to pre-COVID capacity by the 2021-22 academic year and return to pre-COVID operations,” the Board of Governors said in a May 5 news release. “Further, we anticipate returning to full in-person participation in athletic and social activities on our campuses, including fan participation in stadiums and arenas.”
But the guidance from the Board of Governors and the plans published by the universities came before the surge in cases in recent weeks, largely driven by the delta variant of the coronavirus.
The increase in cases has led to hospitals filling up with COVID-19 patients and local officials trying to curb the spread of the virus. For instance, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings declared a local state of emergency Wednesday and ordered vaccinations for county employees.
The CDC issued new guidelines Tuesday advising that all people, including those who are fully vaccinated, wear masks in schools and areas of “substantial or high” transmission.
On Thursday, a University of Florida spokesman told The News Service of Florida that the university wouldn’t reverse course on masks or the number of people allowed in classrooms.
“Masks are optional, and we recommend those not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 to continue wearing them. We will continue to monitor the progress of the pandemic, both locally and nationally and are always prepared to modify our approach if conditions warrant,” Steve Orlando, UF’s assistant vice president for communications, said.
More than 110,000 new cases of coronavirus have been reported throughout the state in the past week and 108 deaths.
The Florida Department of Health released new data showing 110,477 new cases of COVID-19 within the state over the past week. The number of new cases surpassed last week's high of 73,196 cases.
For the week of June 25, the state reported only 15,998 new cases, making this month's number's a drastic spike.
The state's positivity rate has also spiked, going from 15.3% to 18.1%.
Despite the high number of cases throughout Florida, the state is also seeing a steady increase in vaccination numbers. This past week, 334,064 people have been vaccinated within the state.
More nursing homes across Florida are reporting coronavirus cases among staff and residents as the delta variant continues to spread across the state.
In total, 177 of Florida’s nursing homes had employees or residents who tested positive for COVID-19 in the week ending July 18, according to federal data released Thursday, the most recent numbers available. Twenty-five of those homes were in Tampa Bay. The state has 705 nursing homes.
The latest report from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services signals a jump in nursing homes with active cases. In the previous week, ending July 11, just 115 nursing homes reported active cases.
The updated federal data lags by about two weeks — failing to reflect the spread in recent days.
Earlier in the pandemic, Florida provided daily reports about cases at individual long-term care facilities. But in May, the state Department of Health stopped publishing this data. Health agency officials did not respond Friday to requests for comment about whether they plan to resume sharing this information now that cases are on the rise in Florida.
The federal report also does not include information about outbreaks at other types of long-term care homes, such as assisted-living facilities. Nor does it include the 26 Florida nursing homes that failed to submit data to the federal government.
Sarasota Memorial Hospital said Friday it would activate a "No Visitors" policy, with limited exceptions, due to the rising COVID-19 cases across the state.
"We know how important visitor support is to our patients," said Sarasota Memorial Chief Medical Officer Dr. James Fiorica, "But these new restrictions are for everyone's protection."
Sarasota Memorial said the change is temporary and "intended to reduce the number of people in the hospital and protect patients and staff from rising cases of COVID-19 on the Suncoast.
The hospital said the limited exceptions would be for "extraordinary circumstances such as end-of-life care and will allow limited support persons for patients in Labor and Delivery/Mother-Baby units and for children admitted to the Pediatric Unit or Neonatal Intensive Care Units." According to the hospital, a support person can also be in a waiting area while patients are in surgery and certain other types of procedures or therapy."
Staff at the hospital will provide patients with iPads and technical assistance to help connect families and friends with patients.
Hospitals in Broward and Miami-Dade counties admitted the most COVID patients of any counties in the U.S. in the last seven days, with more than 800 patients each, according to a White House report.
Signs of the pandemic toll on South Florida health systems emerged this week as South Florida hospitals enacted surge plans:
- Memorial Healthcare System set up triage tents outside its Emergency Departments and is using conference space to care for patients.
- Broward Health and Cleveland Clinic Florida began converting regular rooms into COVID wards.
- Even the two counties’ children’s hospitals are triaging a crunch of patients in their emergency rooms and admitting the most critically ill children with COVID.
- Cleveland Clinic Florida, which also has seen COVID patient numbers increase, will hold a vaccine clinic Saturday at its Weston campus from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in an attempt to curtail the tide of patients flooding in.
I'm still waiting for the FDOH to release their weekly Florida Covid PDF file to the public. They're dragging their heels again this week - suffice it to say my trust in the information that they put out is becoming less and less. (If you recall last week's FDOH release contained an incorrect death number and the report was delayed until midnight). Unfortunately the FDOH is the only source available for case information. (The CDC gets their case information from FDOH).
Anyway I came across this information from the Sarasota Herald Tribune (see below). And below that I'll post the most recent numbers from the CDC.
New COVID-19 cases in Sarasota-Manatee 10x what they were four weeks ago
New Covid-19 cases this week are more than 10 times what they were four weeks ago, according to data released Friday by the Florida Department of Health.
Sarasota County saw 1,412 new cases over the past week, compared to 141 four weeks ago and 899 last week. Manatee County had 1,552 new cases, compared to 139 four weeks ago and 998 last week.
Sarasota and Manatee are seeing a bigger surge than Florida as a whole. The number of new COVID-19 cases in Florida grew from 15,978 four weeks ago to 110,477 this week, only about a seven-fold increase. It is still a significant leap even from last week, when the state saw 73,199 new cases.
Florida also reported 109 new COVID-related deaths this week.
Test positivity ratio = 18.69% (increase of 3.01%)
New hospital admissions = 88 (increase of 104.65%)
Testing volume = 7030 (increase of 12.14%)
Sarasota County
Test positivity ratio = 14.51% (increase of 0.36%)
New hospital admissions = 133 (increase of 107.8%)
Testing volume = 6624 (increase of 14.7%)
Through July 30th the percent of total population vaccinated in Manatee County is 46.3%
Through July 30th the percent of total population vaccinated in Sarasota County is 56.2%
From the CDC the 7-day numbers through Tuesday, July 20th
Manatee County
Test positivity ratio = 16.39% (increase of 4.08%)
New hospital admissions = 43 (increase of 53.57%)
Testing volume = 5034 (increase of 1.39%)
Sarasota County
Test positivity ratio = 15.28% (increase of 6.2%)
New hospital admissions = 64 (increase of 33.33%)
Testing volume = 4430 (decline of 12.55%)
Through July 23rd the percent of total population vaccinated in Manatee County is 45.8%
Through July 23rd the percent of total population vaccinated in Sarasota County is 55.7%
Last edited by wondermint2; 07-30-2021 at 04:15 PM..
A new study shows the Delta Covid-19 variant produced similar amounts of virus in vaccinated and unvaccinated people if they get infected -- illustrating a key motivation behind the federal guidance that now recommends most fully vaccinated Americans wear masks indoors.
Experts say that vaccination makes it less likely that you'll catch Covid-19 in the first place -- but for those who do, this data suggests they could have a similar tendency to spread it as unvaccinated folks.
"High viral loads suggest an increased risk of transmission and raised concern that, unlike with other variants, vaccinated people infected with Delta can transmit the virus," Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement Friday.
On Thursday, a CDC internal document said the Delta variant was roughly as transmissible as chickenpox, whereas an early strain was closer to the common cold. This means that, under certain conditions, an infected person may have transmitted to two or three people, on average, early in the outbreak. But now, with Delta, that number could be five to nine.
The study, published by CDC Friday, describes 469 Massachusetts residents who were infected in a July outbreak in Barnstable County, which includes the summer vacation destination Provincetown. No deaths were reported among them.
About 74% -- or 346 cases -- had been fully vaccinated. Of those cases, 79% reported symptoms. Genetically sequenced cases revealed the Delta variant as the main culprit.
The researchers found evidence that viral loads were similar among 127 fully vaccinated people and 84 others who were unvaccinated, partially vaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. Viral load is a proxy for how likely someone might be to transmit the virus to others.
But even with similar viral loads, it's not a foregone conclusion that vaccinated people are necessarily as contagious as unvaccinated people.
"This is intriguing data, it's important, but I'm not positive that you're equally as infectious if you're vaccinated," said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the research.
Gandhi said there are multiple parts to the immune system -- including antibodies and T cells -- that raise important questions around using viral load, which is measured by PCR tests, as a proxy for how contagious someone is.
The new report says that "microbiological studies are required to confirm these findings" of similar viral loads among breakthrough infections. It also notes that "asymptomatic breakthrough infections might be underrepresented" because they are less likely to be detected.
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