Coronavirus positives in Bradenton and Hillsborough Counties (Miami, Plantation: budget, expense)

[michgc]

Judge Blocks Florida Governor’s Order Banning Mask Mandates

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...QYIAS53V280102

[wondermint2]

Supreme Court throws out Biden administration eviction moratorium

https://news.google.com/articles/CAI...S&ceid=US%3Aen

The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Biden administration's Covid-related eviction moratorium.

"Congress was on notice that a further extension would almost surely require new legislation, yet it failed to act in the several weeks leading up to the moratorium's expiration," the court wrote in an unsigned, eight-page opinion.

"If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it," the court said.

[wondermint2]

Having SARS-CoV-2 once confers much greater immunity than a vaccine—but no infection parties, please

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021...ection-parties

The natural immune protection that develops after a SARS-CoV-2 infection offers considerably more of a shield against the Delta variant of the pandemic coronavirus than two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to a large Israeli study that some scientists wish came with a “Don’t try this at home” label. The newly released data show people who once had a SARS-CoV-2 infection were much less likely than vaccinated people to get Delta, develop symptoms from it, or become hospitalized with serious COVID-19.

The study demonstrates the power of the human immune system, but infectious disease experts emphasized that this vaccine and others for COVID-19 nonetheless remain highly protective against severe disease and death. And they caution that intentional infection among unvaccinated people would be extremely risky. “What we don’t want people to say is: ‘All right, I should go out and get infected, I should have an infection party.’” says Michel Nussenzweig, an immunologist at Rockefeller University who researches the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and was not involved in the study. “Because somebody could die.”

The researchers also found that people who had SARS-CoV-2 previously and then received one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine were more highly protected against reinfection than those who once had the virus and were still unvaccinated.

The study, conducted in one of the most highly COVID-19–vaccinated countries in the world, examined medical records of tens of thousands of Israelis, charting their infections, symptoms, and hospitalizations between 1 June and 14 August, when the Delta variant predominated in Israel. It’s the largest real-world observational study so far to compare natural and vaccine-induced immunity to SARS-CoV-2, according to its leaders.

[wondermint2]

Originally Posted by michgc

Judge Blocks Florida Governor’s Order Banning Mask Mandates

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...QYIAS53V280102

Thanks for posting about this. Unfortunately on Bloomberg I've reached my article limit and I'm blocked by a paywall. So I'll post another link without a paywall.

I don't think this school mask dispute is over by any means. DeSantis will appeal - and in Texas (after an appeal of a lower court ruling) - the Texas Supreme Court sided with governor Abbott in prohibiting school districts from applying mask mandates.

Judge throws out Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban on mandatory masks in Florida schools

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.pal...amp/5608275001

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on mandatory masks at schools was thrown out Friday by a Tallahassee judge who ruled that the governor overreached his authority, misinterpreted state law and ignored scientific evidence in issuing his order.

Heading into the new school year, DeSantis demanded that counties allow parents to have their children simply opt out of mask requirements. But Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled that school boards are empowered to mandate that all students wear face-coverings, unless they obtain a medical exception.

The judge said DeSantis was wrong in determining that the state’s new “Parents’ Bill of Rights” in state law — the provision on which he based his order — prohibited school districts from enacting limits like masks.

“This statute does not support a statewide order or any action interfering with the constitutional authority of local school districts to provide for the safety and health of students based on the unique facts on the ground in a particular county,” Cooper said, explaining his ruling over more than two hours in a Zoom court hearing.

“The law of Florida does not permit the defendants to punish school boards for adopting a face mask mandate,” he added, saying the Parents' Bill of Rights actually allows policies such as mandatory face coverings to improve school safety.

[wondermint2]

As I mentioned yesterday I think cases & hospitalizations have reached a plateau in Florida. The hospitalization numbers released today for Florida were encouraging - however the case numbers released today are a bit concerning. That being said - there can be a lot of noise in the day to day case numbers which is why it's better to look at the 7-day average. I'm hoping that the opening of universities this week in Florida doesn't result in cases resuming an uptrend.

"Florida just reported the most new COVID-19 cases of the pandemic to the
@CDCgov : 27,584. "

https://mobile.twitter.com/NikkiFrie...02591896502280

[wondermint2]

277 Florida Covid deaths , in hospitals only, reported today (by the HHS).

https://mobile.twitter.com/mblake/st...07189721997316

[{"new_covid":"2101","deaths_covid":"277","date":"2 021-08-27T00:00:00.000"}
,{"new_covid":"2109","deaths_covid":"277","date":" 2021-08-26T00:00:00.000"}
,{"new_covid":"2074","deaths_covid":"298","date":" 2021-08-25T00:00:00.000"}
,{"new_covid":"2115","deaths_covid":"276","date":" 2021-08-24T00:00:00.000"}
,{"new_covid":"1951","deaths_covid":"259","date":" 2021-08-23T00:00:00.000"}
,{"new_covid":"1986","deaths_covid":"274","date":" 2021-08-22T00:00:00.000"}
,{"new_covid":"2238","deaths_covid":"285","date":" 2021-08-21T00:00:00.000"}
,{"new_covid":"2328","deaths_covid":"275","date":" 2021-08-20T00:00:00.000"}
,{"new_covid":"2292","deaths_covid":"257","date":" 2021-08-19T00:00:00.000"}
,{"new_covid":"2363","deaths_covid":"258","date":" 2021-08-18T00:00:00.000"}

[wondermint2]

The FDOH released their weekly report this evening. Overall I think it's favorable for our local region - indicating that we're still in the process of forming a plateau (albeit we're still at high levels and not declining much yet). However Manatee County fared a bit better than Sarasota County during the recent week.

Cases for Manatee County saw a very small increase (and their new cases were almost flat from last week). Sarasota County saw a continued increase in cases to the tune of 21.7% over the previous week. (On a percentage basis this is slightly more than their previous weekly increase in cases of 18.6%).

The test positivity ratios declined for both Sarasota & Manatee Counties over the previous week.

Manatee County continues to do better with hospitalizations compared to Sarasota County.

Vaccinations are continuing to trend upwards for both Sarasota & Manatee Counties.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


From the FDOH for the week of August 20 through August 26:

Manatee County

Cases = 3469 (increase of 0.7% from previous week)

Test positivity ratio = 16.6%


Sarasota County

Cases = 3375 (increase of 21.7% from previous week)

Test positivity ratio = 16.5%

http://ww11.doh.state.fl.us/comm/_pa...ata_latest.pdf


-------------------------------------------------------------------------


The latest 7-day stats from the CDC:

Manatee County

Test positivity ratio 17.75% (decrease of 1.68%) [through August 24]

Testing volume = 10,575 (decline of 18.74%) [through August 24]

Hospitalizations = 190 (decrease of 5.47%) [through August 25]

Percent of total population fully vaccinated = 48.9% [through August 26]


Sarasota County

Test positivity ratio 19.23% (increase of 0.06%) [through August 24]

Testing volume = 14,491 (decline of 0.28%) [through August 24]

Hospitalizations = 367 (increase of 16.88%) [through August 25]

Percent of total population fully vaccinated = 58.6% [through August 26]

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


For comparison purposes here are the stats from 1 week ago:

From the FDOH for the week of August 13 through August 19:

Manatee County

Cases = 3445 (increase of 30.5% from previous week)

Test positivity ratio = 19.4%


Sarasota County

Cases = 2772 (increase of 18.6% from previous week)

Test positivity ratio = 18.6%


-------------------------------------------------------------------------


The 7-day stats from the CDC (for the previous week):

Manatee County

Test positivity ratio 22.24% (increase of 1.83%) [through August 17]

Testing volume = 6178 (decline of 51.13%) [through August 17]

Hospitalizations = 201 (increase of 20.36%) [through August 18]

Percent of total population fully vaccinated = 48% [through August 20]


Sarasota County

Test positivity ratio 19.31% (increase of 0.3%) [through August 17]

Testing volume = 7368 (decline of 37.65%) [through August 17]

Hospitalizations = 314 (increase of 19.39%) [through August 18]

Percent of total population fully vaccinated = 57.8% [through August 20]

[wondermint2]

Florida is seeing an increase in cases for those age 19 and under. However every other age group has been showing a decline in cases. This probably explains why cases are at a stubborn plateau while hospitalizations have started declining.

Florida averages 250 COVID deaths a day; children top infections, positivity rates

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/med...tes/ar-AANPfu4

Florida added 151,749 coronavirus cases over the past week. Nearly one out of every three infections was suffered by those age 19 and under. While more young Floridians are being diagnosed with COVID-19, infections actually fell in every other age group.

Pediatric admissions are holding steady at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. But Dr. Joseph Perno, vice president of medical affairs, said the emergency room is still treating a high volume of children for COVID-19.

“It’s demoralizing,” he said. “We’re functioning at our peak volume.”

The state averaged about 21,700 infections and 250 deaths per day over that seven-day period. It’s the second week in a row that cases have plateaued around 21,000 cases per day, but infections remained at over 50 percent higher than the previous wave in January.

Florida hospitals had 16,146 confirmed COVID-19 patients as of Friday, the lowest level in two weeks. Hospitalizations had been climbing steadily since mid-June, before leveling in the past week.

“Fingers crossed, we may be seeing the beginning of a downward trend in COVID-19 hospitalizations, but new cases remain near all-time highs, so it is much too early to declare victory,” said Florida Hospital Association president Mary Mayhew in an email to the Tampa Bay Times.

However, hospitalizations are still about 70 percent higher than the last peak seen in July 2020.

More and more, COVID-19 is afflicting the state’s youngest residents. Ages 19 and under account for 32 percent of infections, or 48,215 cases.

Young Floridians also continue to lead all age groups in positivity rates: Ages 12-19 have a 23 percent positivity rate, the highest in the state. Children ages 12 and under have the second highest rate at 19 percent and cannot be vaccinated.

Florida hospitals had 215 pediatric cases with confirmed COVID-19 as of Friday, the highest number of child hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic.

[wondermint2]

Despite revoking event permits, Venice allows Sept. 4-5 Craft Festival to continue with COVID-19 protocols

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/new...ols/ar-AANP7SF

Venice MainStreet, the sponsor of numerous special events, including a downtown craft festival scheduled for the first weekend in September, produced a safety protocol previously used for a similar event in June.

The groups worked with Sarasota County’s Health Officer and developed safety protocols that guests must follow.

[wondermint2]

Florida Hospitalizations & Deaths

According to the Health & Human Services agency today there are 16,164 Florida Covid-19 hospitalizations - a decrease of 293 from yesterday's total of 16,457. (258 hospitals reported today).

There are 3598 Florida Covid-19 patients in the ICU - that's a decrease of 59 from yesterday's total of 3657. (264 hospitals reported).

source:
https://protect-public.hhs.gov/pages...al-utilization

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

According to the NY Times as of August 27 the 7-day avg. for deaths in Florida is 247 deaths per day. This is an increase of 61% over the past 14 days.

source:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...vid-cases.html