Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Sarasota - Bradenton - Venice area
 [Register]
Sarasota - Bradenton - Venice area Manatee and Sarasota Counties
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 08-31-2020, 08:45 PM
 
7,015 posts, read 4,444,821 times
Reputation: 1651

Advertisements

Covid-19 is increasing in the MidWest - however our area here in SW Florida is still in a downtrend.

Coronavirus cases are on the rise again across more than half of the U.S.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/08/31/...of-the-us.html

New cases are up by at least 5%, based on a seven-day average, in 26 states as of Sunday, compared with just 12 states a week ago.

Many of the recently growing outbreaks across the country are occurring in Midwestern states, including Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and the Dakotas.

New cases nationwide have been steadily falling for more than a month, but they now appear to be flattening out at over 40,000 new cases per day.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 09-01-2020, 11:25 AM
 
7,015 posts, read 4,444,821 times
Reputation: 1651
It's my understanding that most of this testing backlog was from Covid-19 tests during the past 2 weeks - meaning that the Covid-19 numbers were "artificially" skewed lower over the past 2 weeks.

Florida cuts ties with Quest after ‘unacceptable’ data dump of nearly 75K coronavirus test results
https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/fl...t-results/amp/

The State of Florida has severed ties with one of the biggest names in coronavirus testing, saying the company failed to follow state law and report results in a timely manner.

Officials with the Florida Department of Health and Division of Emergency Management announced Tuesday that they were cutting all ties with Quest Diagnostics. According to state officials, Quest failed to report tens of thousands of results – some of them months old.

According to a news release from the state, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office was informed Monday night that nearly 75,000 test results were going to be entered into the Department of Health’s coronavirus monitoring system. Some of the test results dated as far back as April, the state says.

“The law requires all COVID-19 results to be reported to DOH in a timely manner,” Gov. DeSantis said in a statement. “To drop this much unusable and stale data is irresponsible.”

The state says the failure to report those results means most of the data in the dump will have historical significance but little impact on the current status of the pandemic in Florida.

State health officials say the total number of new cases reported on Aug. 31 was 7,643. Without the Quest backlog, the state says the number would have been 3,773. The backlog also impacted the positivity rate. The state says the Aug. 31 rate was 6.8% but would have been 5.9% without the data dump.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-01-2020, 11:42 AM
 
7,015 posts, read 4,444,821 times
Reputation: 1651
By the way I've mentioned this before - but Johns Hopkins University consistently reports a much higher test positivity rate for Florida than what is reported by the Florida Department Of Health. I tried searching online for an explanation and this is what I found:

"Statewide, an average of 12 percent of coronavirus tests were positive over the seven-day period ending Aug. 30, according the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard.

The positivity rate is a much lower 5.5 percent on the official Florida Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard, but still over the rate recommended by the FCAAP.

Why the difference in rates? Johns Hopkins gets its numbers from the independent COVID-19 Tracking Project. While the Florida Department of Health, which gets its numbers from the medical examiners in each of the state’s 67 counties, has been accused of censoring the data and ousting a whistleblower. The agency has denied the allegation.

NBC News has reached out to both the Florida Department of Health and Johns Hopkins for explanations."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbc...mp/ncna1238888

Johns Hopkins Florida Covid-19 Numbers
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/...states/florida
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-01-2020, 12:05 PM
 
7,015 posts, read 4,444,821 times
Reputation: 1651
IMO not a good combination to be reopening bars at a time when schools are opening and trying to operate safely....

South Florida restaurants and casinos reopen - Bars May Reopen Soon
https://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...in/3454055001/

Some coronavirus restrictions started easing up Monday in parts of South Florida.

In Miami-Dade County, restaurants were allowed to welcome back diners to indoor seating for the first time in almost two months, provided masks were worn and the establishments operated at 50% capacity.

In Palm Beach County, officials issued an order allowing tattoo and body piercing parlors, as well as tanning salons, to reopen starting Monday.

DeSantis spoke Monday at a news conference in The Villages retirement community, saying he’s looking at reopening bars and nightclubs and wants the three South Florida counties – Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade – to join the rest of the state in reopening businesses.

“Everything’s open except the nightclubs and the pubs, and that’s something we’re going to address,” DeSantis said.

Last edited by wondermint2; 09-01-2020 at 12:18 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-01-2020, 02:56 PM
 
7,015 posts, read 4,444,821 times
Reputation: 1651
More than 100 people sent home from Palmetto High after COVID-19 case, official says
https://www.bradenton.com/news/coron...245406890.html

Classrooms full of students were sent home from Palmetto High School after a teacher tested positive for COVID-19.

In a message to families on Monday evening, Palmetto High reported “a case of COVID-19” and “direct exposures” to the infected person. On Tuesday morning, the Bradenton Herald received several unverified reports that Palmetto High School had upwards of 100 possible exposures.

A reporter asked for the exact number of exposures, and after more than four hours, the district would only confirm that an “abnormal number of students” were quarantined. The Bradenton Herald then reached out to Scott Hopes, a school board member and epidemiologist.

Hopes said it was his understanding that more than 100 people were quarantined after possibly being exposed to a COVID-19 case at the school.

Tuesday’s update from the district also included an elementary school and a middle school. Williams Elementary School, 3404 Fort Hamer Road in Parrish, reported “a case of COVID-19” and “direct exposures” to the confirmed case.

In a nearly identical message, Nolan Middle School, 6615 Greenbrook Blvd. in Bradenton, reported “a case of COVID-19” and “direct exposures” to the infected person.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-02-2020, 11:45 AM
 
7,015 posts, read 4,444,821 times
Reputation: 1651
Inexpensive steroids reduce deaths of hospitalized Covid-19 patients, WHO analysis confirms
https://www.statnews.com/2020/09/02/...ysis-confirms/

Use of inexpensive, readily available steroid drugs to treat people hospitalized with Covid-19 reduced the risk of death by one-third, according to an analysis encompassing seven different clinical trials conducted by the World Health Organization and published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The positive steroid findings — the result of a pooled look at data known as a meta-analysis — confirm a similar survival benefit reported in June from a single, large study. Corticosteroids are the first, and so far only, therapy shown to improve the odds of survival for critically ill patients with Covid-19.

Based on the newly published data, the WHO on Wednesday issued new treatment guidelines calling for corticosteroids to become the standard of care for patients with “severe and critical” Covid-19. Such patients should receive 7-10 days of treatment, a WHO panel said. But it cautioned against use of the steroids in patients with non-severe illness, saying that “indiscriminate use of any therapy for COVID-19 would potentially rapidly deplete global resources and deprive patients who may benefit from it most as potentially life-saving therapy.”

Corticosteroids do not directly attack the novel coronavirus. Instead, the drugs work by dampening the activity of a patient’s immune system to prevent it from attacking the lungs — a serious and often fatal condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-02-2020, 12:33 PM
 
7,015 posts, read 4,444,821 times
Reputation: 1651
Florida Dept. of Health stays silent about school-related COVID-19 cases
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/de...es/ar-BB18D9OD

Throughout Florida, there's confusion about what information is fair game and what those numbers even look like following the Florida Department of Health withdrawing its own public reports about the spread of the disease in schools — a decision that holds importance for families across the state as school re-openings in other districts continued this week.

The department's position to withhold COVID-19 data is at odds with federal guidance from the U.S. Department of Education, which says districts can report state numbers as long as they don't identify individual students, a potential health-privacy violation.

Asked about the blanket information blackout, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Health cited a state law that normally exempts such data from public disclosure. But that law also allows for the publication of health data "when necessary to public health." The department did not clarify the discrepancy in a series of email exchanges with the Times-Union.

Last Tuesday, the Duval County school district announced it would have to pause releasing information to the public about school-related COVID-19 cases following the directive from the Florida Department of Health.

School district spokesman Tracy Pierce said the Duval County Department of Health told the district it cannot publish "school specific data related to COVID-19" without the state health department's permission, which has apparently not been granted.

It's a move the school district is still fighting, correspondence obtained by the Times-Union shows.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-02-2020, 12:41 PM
 
7,015 posts, read 4,444,821 times
Reputation: 1651
Quote:
Originally Posted by wondermint2 View Post
Florida Dept. of Health stays silent about school-related COVID-19 cases
Report: Coronavirus Cases Rising in Children
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/re...en/ar-BB18DPBz

Coronavirus cases in children are on the rise, according to a recently updated report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association.

Over 70,000 new infections were reported in children over the span of two weeks from mid to late August, amounting to a 17% increase in cases during that timeline, according to the report, which looked at data from 49 states, New York City, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.

With kids going back to schools and daycare facilities, it might not be a surprising development, but it is a concerning one, according to Sally Goza, the president of the AAP.

Goza said that the data shows that areas have not done a good job of decreasing community spread.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-02-2020, 01:14 PM
 
7,015 posts, read 4,444,821 times
Reputation: 1651
This college has the right idea (see link below) - I've said it before but the only sure-fire way to keep Covid-19 out of schools is to test every couple of days looking for asymptomatic carriers. Some other "smart" colleges are using sewage samples from the dorms to catch asymptomatic carriers. Relying on finding "symptoms" in schools is an antiquated approach which has limited effectiveness...........

Quote:
Originally Posted by wondermint2 View Post
Report: Coronavirus Cases Rising in Children
This university created its own COVID-19 test and is testing students twice a week — but is it enough to prevent an outbreak?
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/th...ak-11598648724

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign engaged in a ‘Manhattan Project-style effort’ to reopen its campus.

The next couple of weeks will be a “defining moment” for U of I as it works to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on campus and in the community, said Robert Jones, the school’s chancellor.

“We know that people are watching,” he told MarketWatch.

And indeed, according to Joshua Salomon, the director of the Prevention Policy Modeling Lab at Stanford University, “people are really going to be watching this carefully,” describing the efforts the school has taken as “encouraging.”

“We don’t know whether it’s going to succeed,” he added. “What we do know is that the likelihood of succeeding without testing is very small.”

U of I is likely the only university testing students at this frequency

At many universities that have reopened their campuses for in-person instruction, students may have been tested upon reentry to university housing or campus more broadly and may be subject to random screening. But models from researchers at Yale School of Public Health and U of I, indicate that in order to prevent an outbreak on a college campus — and not just monitor one — students and those interacting with them regularly need to be tested multiple times per week.

Last edited by wondermint2; 09-02-2020 at 02:16 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-02-2020, 03:48 PM
 
7,015 posts, read 4,444,821 times
Reputation: 1651
IMO the FDH "suppressing" information on Covid-19 in Florida schools - is a sure-fire indication that the numbers aren't where they want them to be. They cite "privacy concerns" as a BS excuse to keep mum. They could report on the number of people exposed at schools - without actually naming names - and nobody's privacy would be violated......

Two more Manatee County schools report COVID-19 cases and exposures
https://www.bradenton.com/news/coron...245437475.html

A local middle school joined the list of Manatee County campuses with a verified COVID-19 case, while another middle school had its second case since the return of students.

In a message to families on Tuesday evening, R. Dan Nolan Middle School, 6615 Greenbrook Blvd. in Bradenton, reported “another case of COVID-19” and “direct exposures” to the infected person. The first case was reported on Monday, one day prior.

Braden River Middle School, 6215 River Club Blvd. in Bradenton, joined the list of schools with cases. In a message to employees and families on Tuesday evening, the campus reported “a case of COVID-19” and “direct exposures” to the infected person.

Much like every notification sent after the return of students, the recent messages offered no detail on the number of people exposed, making it hard to know the full impact of COVID-19 on local schools.

Most recently, the Bradenton Herald asked for the number of people exposed to a case at Palmetto High School, 1200 17th St. W. The request was later denied by district spokesman Mike Barber.

“We work hand-in-hand with the Florida Department of Health in Manatee County to determine what information is disseminated to the public,” he said in an email. “We are following their guidance in accordance with Florida Statute 381.0031.”


At least 22 Manatee County schools have now reported COVID-19 cases since the start of school on Aug. 17.

Last edited by wondermint2; 09-02-2020 at 04:10 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Sarasota - Bradenton - Venice area

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top