Coronavirus positives in Bradenton and Hillsborough Counties (Sarasota, Alachua: land, monthly)

[wondermint2]

Interesting thread about boosters from scientist Eric Topol on Twitter:

https://mobile.twitter.com/EricTopol...33828021813249

Israeli data for 1 million people, age > 60, 4 million person-days with no booster vs 3.4 million person-days with booster
>10-fold reduction of severe illness
~11 fold reduction of infections
Preprint by
@MiloLabWIS

@IsraelMoH
and colleagues just posted

""This brings vaccine efficacy for booster-vaccinated individuals to ~95%, similar to the original "fresh" vaccine efficacy reported against the Alpha strain"

"For people with >12-days lag btwn the booster vaxx &severe illness...decreased relative risk of severe disease 15.5 fold""

[wondermint2]

Today's Update From Sarasota Memorial Hospital

277 Covid-19 patients hospitalized today - an increase of 15 from Friday's total of 262 (and 14 below Sunday's new record total of 291 - the previous record was 284).

68 Covid-19 patients in the ICU (an increase of 10 since Friday - and a decrease of 1 from yesterday).

3 people died from Covid-19 at SMH over the past day - and 8 died over the weekend (since Friday).

the 7-day test positivity ratio is 16.9%

unvaccinated Covid-19 patients at SMH is currently 82%

source:
https://www.smh.com/Home/News-Events...ly-news-update

[wondermint2]

Florida Hospitalizations & Deaths

According to the Health & Human Services agency today there are 15,788 Florida Covid-19 hospitalizations - an increase of 10 from yesterday's total of 15,778. (257 hospitals reported today).

There are 3526 Florida Covid-19 patients in the ICU - that's an increase of 8 from yesterday's total of 3518. (263 hospitals reported).

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

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

According to the NY Times as of August 29 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

[wondermint2]

Mask enforcement begins in Sarasota County Schools

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/...cy/5648439001/

As of 11 a.m., school officials did not have a firm number as to how many children were being sent home for non-compliance. District spokesman Craig Maniglia estimated it was a small handful at each school, but he said they would have more clarity after a meeting of principals late Monday afternoon.

Outside Laurel Nokomis School on Monday morning, a group of parents who objected to the mask mandate said that they planned to resist the mandate for the long-haul and that their child would not comply.

Moms For Liberty, a national organization that was originally co-founded by Sarasota County School Board member Bridget Ziegler, has a Sarasota chapter that has been the center of mask resistance in schools. (Ziegler is no longer officially affiliated with the organization, although she supports the cause.)

The group laid out a game plan for families last weekend, according to a statement from the organization posted to Facebook.

Children were supposed to walk into school without a mask but have one ready in case an administrator said they needed it to get in the building. Kids would keep their masks on until 10 a.m., and then they were supposed to all take them off and tell teachers they would not comply.

"I want an education; my parents told me I don't have to wear that. You're not my parents," the organization's statement encourages students to say. "No, I don't have to leave, and I'm not doing anything wrong."

The district's plan is for students who do not wear masks to be sent home.

The guidance from Moms For Liberty tells parents to be in no rush to pick up their child, if their school calls and says they need to be picked up for not wearing a mask.

"Go at your leisure as this mess is not the fault of families or administrators, this mess is the result of the rogue majority on the board," the guidance states.

[wondermint2]

3,000 Students, Teachers Isolated, Quarantined Because Of COVID in Sarasota County

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/3-...vid/ar-AANUbtc

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — As Sarasota County Schools’ prepared for its 90-day emergency face mask mandate to go into full effect Monday, more than 3,000 students and employees were out of school and work for isolation because they have COVID-19 or quarantining because they might have been exposed, Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen said in a letter emailed to families Friday.

[wondermint2]

Main takeaways from the article: Pfizer vaccine effectiveness decreases over time - but remains effective against severe disease. Booster shots are helping.

Israel doubles down on booster shots as daily Covid cases set new record

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

Around 63% of the Israeli population has been fully vaccinated, according to data compiled by Our World in Data.

Covid-19 cases in Israel have been rising sharply since July despite the high vaccination rate. New daily cases in the country reached an all-time high of 12,113 on August 24, surpassing the January peak of 11,934.

Preliminary data published by the Israeli government in July showed the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was just 16% effective against symptomatic infection for people who had received two doses in January. For people who had been fully vaccinated by April, the vaccine was 79% effective against symptomatic infection, suggesting that immunity gained through immunization depletes over time.

However, the analysis did conclude that having the vaccine provided strong protection against severe illness and hospitalization caused by Covid-19.

In late July, Israel began offering everyone over the age of 60 a third vaccine dose, a move that has been rapidly expanded. Throughout August, the booster program has gradually been rolled out to more of the population, and third shots have been available to everyone over the age of 30 since Tuesday.

Israelis receiving a booster shot are required to wait five months after their second dose before they become eligible for their third.

"The severe disease rates in the vaccinated are about one-tenth of those seen in the unvaccinated, which means the vaccine is still over 90% effective in preventing severe disease," Leshem added. "People who received the booster dose are also at much, much lower risk of becoming infected, our short-term data shows."

[wondermint2]

Goldman Sachs says 750,000 households could be evicted this year unless Congress acts

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

If Congress doesn't implement a new eviction ban, three-quarters of a million American households could be evicted later this year, according to new research.

Goldman Sachs estimates that between 2.5 million and 3.5 million households are significantly behind on rent, owing a combined $12 billion to $17 billion to landlords.

Those renters appeared to be safe from eviction until at least October until the Supreme Court last week struck down the Biden administration's ban on evictions, indicating that further action must come from Congress. At the same time, most state-level restrictions on evictions are scheduled to expire over the next month, which the Goldman Sachs analysts noted in the Sunday night report.

"The end of the eviction moratorium is likely to result in a sharp and rapid increase in eviction rates in coming months unless Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) funding is distributed at a much faster pace or Congress addresses the issue," the report said.

The process of recovering back rent through the emergency rental assistance program has been "disappointingly slow," Goldman Sachs analysts wrote. Even though the US Treasury Department has dispersed $25 billion to state and local governments — and has another $20 billion available — just $4.5 billion has been distributed, according to the report.

"The strength of the housing and rental market suggests landlords will try to evict tenants who are delinquent on rent unless they obtain federal assistance," Goldman Sachs analysts wrote.

The firm predicted evictions could be "particularly pronounced in the cities hardest hit by the coronavirus" because those areas have stronger apartment rental markets.

An eviction crisis, should it emerge, would not only cause hardship for individual families, it could also impact the pandemic and the economic recovery — as well as inflation.

Goldman Sachs (GS)estimates a "small drag" on spending and job growth from the projected 750,000 evictions and an easing of shelter inflation in 2022. "The implications for Covid infections and public health are probably more severe," the report said.

[wondermint2]

Manatee County School District closes several classrooms due to new covid rules

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ma...aks/ar-AANUyoW

The Manatee County School Board has set some conditions for classrooms with positive COVID cases. This will affect all levels but the board is especially concerned with students who are too young to get the vaccine.

If any classroom has more than two positive cases, the school will send the whole classroom home to quarantine for at least 7 days. If after one week, the students have symptoms, they must remain home.

If only two students test positive, the school conducts contact tracing to identity those students who had direct contact with the positive cases - and if another comes up positive, then the whole class will be quarantined.

Manatee County School Spokesperson Mike Barber told ABC7 that the issue was discussed during a board meeting last Tuesday and was enacted this week.

Between Tuesday and Friday of last week, six schools had to send at least one classroom home:

- Mills Elementary

- McNeal Elementary

- Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary

- Williams Elementary

- Willis Elementary

- Tillman Elementary

[wondermint2]

So how much can the recent decline in hospitalizations be attributed to Regeneron? As I mentioned in a previous post the relative benefit is a 70% reduction in hospitalizations - however the absolute benefit is along the lines of 3%. So this means that 3 out of 100 treated with Regeneron avoid hospitalization overall. So with 30,000 Regeneron treatments one can assume the absolute number of hospitalizations declined by about 900.

More than 30,000 COVID patients in Florida have had monoclonal antibody therapy since Aug. 12

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/med...-12/ar-AANUKnk

Since DeSantis on Aug. 12 began opening treatment centers across the state, including one at the Westgate Recreation Center near West Palm Beach, more than 30,000 people have gotten the therapy, either by infusion or in a series of four shots.

Already, DeSantis said, it is helping reduce hospital admissions and cut down on the number of people visiting emergency rooms for COVID-19. Both are declining, he said, although the state doesn’t share the figures publicly.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that 15,788 regular hospital beds statewide were filled with COVID-19 patients on Monday, down from 17,164 five days ago. Another 3,526 people were being treated in intensive-care units, a drop of 156 compared to Wednesday.

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

https://www.idsociety.org/covid-19-r...al-antibodies/

"there was a significant reduction in COVID-related hospitalization or death of 71.3% (1.3% vs. 4.6%; p<0.0001) in the 2,400 mg group and 70.4% (1.0% vs. 3.2%) in the 1,200 mg group, as compared to placebo. "

*Thus for the 2400 mg dose of Regeneron there is a 71.3% relative risk reduction of hospitalization (4.6% vs. 1.3%)

This means the absolute reduction in the 2400 mg group is 3.3% (4.6% - 1.3%) and the 1200 mg group it's 2.25% (3.25% - 1.0%)

[wondermint2]

So why would parents go to a chiropractor instead of a pediatrician for a medical exemption form for their children? I was expecting things like this to happen and this guy sounds like a quack.

Families line up outside Venice chiropractor’s office to get medical exemption forms for school mask mandate

https://www.wfla.com/news/sarasota-c...in-effect/amp/

SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — Families were lined up outside a chiropractor’s office in Venice on Monday night hoping to get medical exemption forms for their children in response to Sarasota County’s new school mask mandate.

The mask mandate in Sarasota County schools went into effect on Monday and, while the district says compliance so far has been good, they are dealing with a few challenges vetting medical exemption forms. As the district works through the exemptions to make sure they’re valid and correct, some parents are voicing concerns over the local chiropractor, who confirms to 8 On Your Side he’s signed dozens of exemption forms in the past week.

Paulina Testerman says she was in disbelief when she heard claims that Twin Palms Chiropractic was offering up mask exemptions to anyone who wanted one. Her family went to check things out for themselves.

“We were in and out, came in, signed a clipboard and handed a sheet,” Testerman said. “Nobody asked to see our children. The forms were pre-signed, there was a stack behind the counter and they were just passed out.”

District officials say they’re aware of the situation and are concerned about the claims they’re seeing online.

“We have got a fair amount of exemption forms from that practice,” Craig Maniglia with Sarasota County Schools said. “They are being looked into. They have been given to our attorneys.”