Coronavirus positives in Bradenton and Hillsborough Counties (Tallahassee, Sarasota: affordable housing, properties)

[wondermint2]

Florida Gov. DeSantis to eliminate age restrictions for COVID vaccine. Everyone 18 and up will be eligible by April 5

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/...zer/6994957002

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday he will eliminate the age restriction for the COVID vaccine as of April 5.

Meanwhile, as of Monday anyone 40 and older can make an appointment for the vaccine.

And starting April 5, anyone 18 and older can apply for an appointment.

"Florida's Senior First vaccine strategy is paying off," DeSantis said in a video announcing the decision. He said more than 3.2 million people 65 and older, or over 70% of the state's seniors, have been vaccinated.

The result of those efforts, DeSantis said, is that "hospitalizations and case rates for seniors have plummeted."

[wondermint2]

Manatee has more shots than interested arms even as vaccine eligibility age set to drop

https://www.bradenton.com/news/coron...250196570.html

With the eligibility age for COVID-19 vaccines set to drop again in Florida, appointments at both county-run vaccination sites in Manatee County are going unfilled.

[loves2read]

In Texas the number of people vaccinated dropped 19% this week from last but only about 10% total have been vaccinated
Horrible %

[wondermint2]

Young adults about COVID vaccines: We don’t want them, we don’t need them. Yet they make up majority of virus cases

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/yo...es/ar-BB1eYdgl

While older Floridians clamor for the vaccines that could prevent them from becoming severely ill and dying from COVID-19, young adults are indifferent, unconvinced the vaccines are necessary. They dismiss the urgency of getting vaccinated, rely heavily on peers and social media for vaccination advice — and seem unaware their rejection of the vaccine could lengthen the course of the pandemic.

Consider the role they play:

Young adults 25-34 make up the largest percentage of COVID cases in Florida.

With Florida reporting the highest number of the UK variant anywhere in the nation, people in this age group also make up most of those cases.

In Florida’s beach towns, young adults, including those on Spring Break, crowd together, unmasked and eager to socialize. And because they are out and about more, they are more likely to spread the virus while not showing symptoms.

That indifference toward vaccination concerns Marissa Levine, a public health professor at the University of South Florida. “If our goal is to snuff out COVID as soon as possible because we don’t want variants to take deeper root,” she says, “we have to get everyone vaccinated.”

The Verywell Vaccine Sentiment Tracker, a bi-weekly measurement of 1,000 Americans’ attitudes and behaviors around COVID-19 and the vaccine, found vaccine rejection and hesitation remain high among young adults, with 47% of respondents under 30 saying they won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine compared with just 17% of those over 50.

“It’s not clear we are ever going to get to herd immunity,”said Joanna L. Drowos, associate chair of the Integrated Medical Science Department at Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine. “There are too many [young adults] willing to take the risk. They are just not worried about COVID.”

[wondermint2]

Floridians 16 and up can get Pfizer vaccine April 5

https://amp.tallahassee.com/amp/7015681002

Are you 16 or 17 and want a COVID vaccine come April 5? No problem.

That's because they're eligible under federal guidelines for the Pfizer vaccine.

The announcement by Gov. Ron DeSantis this week that everyone 18 and older would be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine starting next month has caused confusion for younger teens.

"The Biden Administration set May 1 for vaccine eligibility for all adults," DeSantis said in a video. "Florida is pleased to announce that all adults in the state age 18 and older will be eligible for the vaccine beginning Monday, April 5."

But he overlooked the fact that the emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration issued for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine includes those aged 16 and up. The authorizations for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are for people 18 and older.

"The state will follow the (authorization) for all vaccines," Department of Health spokesman Jason Mahon said in an emailed response to a question from the USA TODAY Network–Florida seeking clarification. "The only vaccine currently authorized for 16- and 17-year-olds is the Pfizer vaccine, which will be available to them in Florida."

DeSantis also said that people 40 and up can start getting the COVID vaccine Monday.

[wondermint2]

Week over week we saw cases and test positivity ratios increase in both Sarasota County and Manatee County. Hospitalizations declined in both counties. This is two weeks in a row we've seen increasing new cases to go along with increasing test positivity ratios - and the trend is becoming concerning.

The one bright spot is that hospitalizations continue their decline. This could be because more seniors are vaccinated and most Covid cases are now occurring in the younger population. However hospitalizations lag new cases and if the new case count continues it's upward trend I suspect even hospitalizations will eventually turn upward.

This is becoming a race against time as both vaccinations and variants take an upward climb. Also disturbing is that people seem to be letting their guard down as mask use is declining while mobility data is increasing.

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Hospitalizations
As per the state data-base that lists hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of Covid-19:

Sarasota County:

*February 14th = 60.00 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*February 21st = 64.14 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*February 28th = 59.57 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*March 7th = 63.57 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*March 14th = 54.43 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*March 21st = 41.28 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*March 28th = 38.57 Covid-19 patients hospitalized

Manatee County:

*February 14th = 58.28 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*February 21st = 50.71 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*February 28th = 54.28 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*March 7th = 62.71 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*March 14th = 49.57 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*March 21st = 35.43 Covid-19 patients hospitalized
*March 28th = 29.43 Covid-19 patients hospitalized

*I report hospitalizations as the seven day average.

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Cases, Tests, Positivity Rate

For the week of March 21st through March 27th:

Sarasota County:

total positive cases = 620 (88.57 cases per day on average)
total tests = 10,959 (1565.57 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 5.6%

Manatee County:

total positive cases = 712 (101.71 cases per day on average)
total tests = 10,643 (1520.43 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 6.7%

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For the week of March 14th through March 20th:

Sarasota County:

total positive cases = 479 (68.43 cases per day on average)
total tests = 10,901 (1557.28 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 4.39%

Manatee County:

total positive cases = 597 (85.28 cases per day on average)
total tests = 9987 (1462.71 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 5.97%

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For the week of March 7th through March 13th:

Sarasota County:

total positive cases = 471 (67.28 cases per day on average)
total tests = 12,806 (1829.43 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 3.68%

Manatee County:

total positive cases = 601 (85.86 cases per day on average)
total tests = 11,723 (1674.71 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 5.13%

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For the week of February 28th through March 6th:

Sarasota County:

total positive cases = 400 (57.14 cases per day on average)
total tests = 11,087 (1583.86 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 3.61%

Manatee County:

total positive cases = 660 (94.28 cases per day on average)
total tests = 11,552 (1650.28 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 5.71%

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For the week of February 21st through February 27th:

Sarasota County:

total positive cases = 484 (69.14 cases per day on average)
total tests = 13,938 (1991.14 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 3.47%

Manatee County:

total positive cases = 773 (110.43 cases per day on average)
total tests = 11,234 (1329 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 5.8%

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For the week of February 14th through February 20th:

Sarasota County:

total positive cases = 474 (67.71 cases per day on average)
total tests = 12,635 (1805 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 3.7%

Manatee County:

total positive cases = 738 (105.43 cases per day on average)
total tests = 11,234 (1604.86 tests per day on average)
test positivity rate = 6.6%

[wondermint2]

Virus fight stalls in early hot spots New York, New Jersey

https://news.yahoo.com/virus-fight-s...140524851.html

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A year after becoming a global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, New York and New Jersey are back atop the list of U.S. states with the highest rates of infection.

Even as the vaccination campaign has ramped up, the number of new infections in New Jersey has crept up by 37% in a little more than a month, to about 23,600 every seven days. About 54,600 people in New York tested positive for the virus in the last week, a number that has begun to inch up recently.

The two states now rank No. 1 and 2 in new infections per capita among U.S. states. New Jersey has been reporting about 647 new cases for every 100,000 residents over the past 14 days. New York has averaged 548.

The situation in New York and New Jersey mirrors a national trend that has seen case numbers inch up in recent days. The U.S. is averaging nearly 62,000 cases a day, up from 54,000 two weeks ago.

Asked Sunday what’s going wrong in the U.S. as cases rise, President Joe Biden told reporters: “Based on what I’m hearing, apparently people are letting their guard down.” Biden said he hopes to have a better sense of the situation after a meeting with his White House pandemic team on Monday.

[wondermint2]

Gottlieb says vaccines should provide "pretty big backstop" against new virus surge


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E3ubcI0Kmg

Gottlieb says 92 million Americans (28% of the public) and 50 million Americans have been fully vaccinated (15% 0f the public). He draws an interesting parallel with the situation in Israel. Israel had rising Covid cases until vaccinations reached 25% of the public - and then Covid infections declined. In two to three weeks of 3 million vaccinations per week - he says in the USA we'll have a pretty good backstop against a big surge.

I hope he's right but two situations are not always the same. I looked at the new variant numbers posted today and they are growing exponentially in Florida. Reported variants in Florida:

B.1.1.7 variant 2274
p.1 variant 42
B.1.351 variant 14.

Florida leads the country by far in variants.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...ant-cases.html

[wondermint2]

Originally Posted by wondermint2

In two to three weeks of 3 million vaccinations per week - he says in the USA we'll have a pretty good backstop against a big surge.

I made a typo in my previous post. This part should read 3 millions vaccinations per day (not per week).

[wondermint2]

Well well well - it looks we have a situation of "dualing experts" with opposing viewpoints. Not that I ever put 100% of my faith in everything that an expert has to say. This is especially true for my own personal doctors.

CDC director says she feels ‘impending doom’ as COVID cases again rise. ‘I’m scared’

https://www.bradenton.com/news/coron...250287705.html

A top U.S. health official sounded an ominous alarm Monday about another surge in COVID-19 cases in the nation.

Briefly choked with emotion, Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she was going to go off-script and reflect on a feeling of “impending doom” at a COVID-19 task force briefing.

”Now is one of those times when I have to share the truth and I have to hope and trust you will listen,” Walensky said. “Right now I’m scared.”

“When we see that uptick in cases...things really have a tendency to surge and surge big,” Walensky said. “I just worry that we will see the surges that we saw over the summer and the winter again.”