Not sure but I'm very skeptical that the science would say Covid cares about masks in Hillsborough county but not Pinellas county.What does the science say on those two questions?
I think we need to define our terms here. I can't imagine anyone would argue that someone who is positive + symptomatic shouldn't be quarantined. I also think it's pretty obvious that an asymptomatic positive should also be quarantined (especially since "asymptomatic" may actually mean "pre-symptomatic".)The Commish said:People can piss and moan back and forth about masks all they want. Does anyone here think it's a good idea to send your kid to school knowing they have COVID simply because they don't have symptoms? Initially, I see that as next level stupid (but not surprised at all). What am I missing? Feb can't get here fast enough!
I meant to come back and edit my post. You are correct. It was initially reported as I posted, then a clarification/follow up point was made to correct it. That correction made some sense to me. The initial comment did not.I think we need to define our terms here. I can't imagine anyone would argue that someone who is positive + symptomatic shouldn't be quarantined. I also think it's pretty obvious that an asymptomatic positive should also be quarantined (especially since "asymptomatic" may actually mean "pre-symptomatic".)The Commish said:People can piss and moan back and forth about masks all they want. Does anyone here think it's a good idea to send your kid to school knowing they have COVID simply because they don't have symptoms? Initially, I see that as next level stupid (but not surprised at all). What am I missing? Feb can't get here fast enough!
But what Ladapo was talking about with his new directive was a situation where a student has been a close contact with a person who tested positive, but the student herself has not tested positive (yet). I'm not sure exactly how "close contact" is defined in that context -- a class where one student is positive and the rest of the class is considered close contacts? Someone came over to their house for dinner a few days ago and later tested positive? -- but I don't think those cases are nearly as cut and dried as the others.
Interestingly, I was talking yesterday to my sister-in-law, who's a school administrator at an elementary school (not in Florida). She said one change this year at her school is that they still make close contacts quarantine, but they're trying to be a little more focused with how they define it. When a student tests positive, they're not just assuming every other kid in the class counts as a CC. Instead, they do some level of contact tracing to determine who that child interacted with, particularly while unmasked. So if your kid was sitting next to the positive kid during lunch, they might count, but if they were on the other side of the room, they might not. Again, I'm not sure of the specifics -- and those specifics really matter -- but in general it sounds like a smarter approach.
Florida’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be a major focus during the 2022 Legislative Session for Sen. Manny Diaz, the top Republican shaping health care policy in the upper chamber.
His work could include revisiting existing vaccine requirements long in place in schools, a response to the debate about whether COVID-19 vaccines should also be required.
Diaz, who came down with COVID-19 last winter, said he wants to review the state’s vaccination efforts as well as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ work on getting monoclonal antibody treatments to those who test positive for COVID-19.
The Senator, who acknowledges he hasn’t gotten a COVID-19 vaccine, says he’s firmly against vaccine mandates. At the urging of the Governor, the Legislature earlier this year passed a bill that would prevent private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination from their customers. But the bill did not ban employers from requiring their employees to be vaccinated.
Unlike some of his Republican colleagues, Diaz said he does not endorse blocking private employers from requiring vaccines.
It “gets more complicated,” Diaz said of striking the balance between individuals’ and employers’ rights.
Republicans opposed to so-called “vaccine passports” have faced criticism, particularly as it relates to schools where current law already requires a bevy of vaccinations. Under current law, only parents who cite religious or health reasons can have their children exempted from the vaccination requirements.
Diaz said it may be time to “review” those mandates, in place for such illnesses as mumps and measles. But he said there was a difference between long-tested vaccines and the new COVID-19 vaccine.
“I think there’s a distinction when you have something that is proven to work and doesn’t have any side effects,” Diaz said.
I’ve heard one of the side-effects of not getting vaccinated against measles is dying of the ####ing measles.
Penn and Teller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCoI’ve heard one of the side-effects of not getting vaccinated against measles is dying of the ####ing measles.
At a glance, looks like the wave has crested and caseloads are going down, so definitely good news. Do we have enough data to say that deaths are declining as well? I ask because I know there was something about how the state's counting method meant that deaths were back-dated to the date they actually occurred rather than the day they were reported. But the graph on p8 would seem to indicate that they've been declining for a few weeks, so hopefully that means they have peaked as well. Too bad this data doesn't include hospitalizations, since that would be another helpful data pointUpdate on Florida stats LINK
That's always been a question that we likely won't know the answer to unfortunately. Deaths in this state have been tricky if you want to understand them terms of scope and time.At a glance, looks like the wave has crested and caseloads are going down, so definitely good news. Do we have enough data to say that deaths are declining as well? I ask because I know there was something about how the state's counting method meant that deaths were back-dated to the date they actually occurred rather than the day they were reported. But the graph on p8 would seem to indicate that they've been declining for a few weeks, so hopefully that means they have peaked as well. Too bad this data doesn't include hospitalizations, since that would be another helpful data point
I mostly agree with this. Some sort of spike in cases was probably inevitable, given the combination of seasonality and Delta. But it probably wouldn't have been as bad as it was, and in terms of hospitalizations and deaths, it's absolutely the case that there are people who would be alive today if states like Florida had pushed vaccines more aggressively in the spring. Incidentally, that's also the reason that, although I expect the political fortunes of governors like DeSantis and Abbot to improve as caseloads drop, I will give them zero credit because it won't erase the damage they've already doneThis is not a Forida specific thing, but I find it ludicrous to take solace or even credit in the fact that cases are beginning to decline when there were plenty of things that could have been done months ago to avoid the huge spike in cases
TALLAHASSEE — When dozens of Florida teachers tried to cash their state-issued $1,000 bonus checks this week, they got a startling response: “insufficient funds.”
No, the State of Florida hasn’t run out of money. Instead, the bad checks are being blamed on a “banking error” by JPMorgan Chase.
Checks issued to at least 50 teachers in 22 different counties bounced because of the error, Florida Department of Education spokesman Jared Ochs said.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and are working to correct it, including refunding any fees incurred by the recipients as a result,” Allison Tobin Reed, the bank’s vice president of communications, said in a statement to the Times/Herald.
[...]
The bounced checks were the latest glitch over DeSantis’ handling of $1,000 bonuses to teachers, principals and first responders, money that came from federal COVID relief funding.
Instead of sending the money to school districts to distribute, like in the past, DeSantis’ administration decided to issue the checks individually, with an accompanying letter signed by DeSantis. The state paid a private contractor $3.6 million to print and send the checks. That led some lawmakers and the union representing school teachers to accuse DeSantis of using the bonuses to score political points.
I'm definitely not chafing. I'm unambiguously glad to see the numbers going down. But it doesn't erase my anger at all the lives needlessly lost over the past few monthsIt's always weird to see people chafe at good news.
That wasn't directed at you gb. I think it's perfectly reasonable to feel a variety of emotions. Again not directed at you, but I think we all need to guard against substituting reason with emotions.I'm definitely not chafing. I'm unambiguously glad to see the numbers going down. But it doesn't erase my anger at all the lives needlessly lost over the past few monthsIt's always weird to see people chafe at good news.
It's be nice if they could get around to providing the funds to the districts that have requested them as well. The federal gov't allocated 7+ billion dollars to Florida and i know counties including mine and those around it have put in requests for about $35 million and have yet to see it. Of course the state has "responded" by saying essentially "all states are slow to provide funds" which is true, but "hey, I'm not any worse than that poor shlub over there" has never really been a compelling case for anything has it?Teacher bonus checks are bouncing in Florida
TALLAHASSEE — When dozens of Florida teachers tried to cash their state-issued $1,000 bonus checks this week, they got a startling response: “insufficient funds.”
No, the State of Florida hasn’t run out of money. Instead, the bad checks are being blamed on a “banking error” by JPMorgan Chase.
Checks issued to at least 50 teachers in 22 different counties bounced because of the error, Florida Department of Education spokesman Jared Ochs said.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and are working to correct it, including refunding any fees incurred by the recipients as a result,” Allison Tobin Reed, the bank’s vice president of communications, said in a statement to the Times/Herald.
[...]
The bounced checks were the latest glitch over DeSantis’ handling of $1,000 bonuses to teachers, principals and first responders, money that came from federal COVID relief funding.
Instead of sending the money to school districts to distribute, like in the past, DeSantis’ administration decided to issue the checks individually, with an accompanying letter signed by DeSantis. The state paid a private contractor $3.6 million to print and send the checks. That led some lawmakers and the union representing school teachers to accuse DeSantis of using the bonuses to score political points.
In related news, in a hypothetical world in which Justin Tucker was arrested on his way to Ford Field Sunday morning, the Lions defeated the Ravens 17-16.A recent poll by Republican polling firm Echelon Insights put DeSantis at the front of the pack of possible 2024 contenders, such as Mike Pence and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, in a hypothetical contest without Trump.
I totally get what you're saying. Usually we see stuff like this with respect to the economy: when one party is in power, partisans on the other side have a natural bias toward hoping the economy does worse so that it hurts their opponents. And that's not a totally irrational thing to want! If your opponents are a complete disaster for the country/economy/Covid response, then the best thing that can happen in the long term is for them to lose power.That wasn't directed at you gb. I think it's perfectly reasonable to feel a variety of emotions. Again not directed at you, but I think we all need to guard against substituting reason with emotions.
This stood out because I thought Florida did better than NY. This article is quoting CDC numbers LINK Covid deaths per 100kFlorida - 19,590
New York - 4,930
In the era of Delta, Florida's death rate is 3 times larger than that of NY
You're looking at total numbers, he's looking at numbers since April 1, 2021 (approx. the Delta wave).This stood out because I thought Florida did better than NY. This article is quoting CDC numbers LINK Covid deaths per 100k
New York 281
Florida 241
So that number is the entirety of the event best I can tell. As I said before:This stood out because I thought Florida did better than NY. This article is quoting CDC numbers LINK Covid deaths per 100k
New York 281
Florida 241
It seems to me that if we are going to make person vs person or state vs state comparisons (and I don't think we should, but we can't seem to help ourselves) we really need to do it in terms of the waves and strands of the virus. In the era of Delta, Florida's death rate is 3 times larger than that of NY and 5 times larger than that of CA. Texas is just under half. We are talking about a period of time where every single adult (who wants one) has access to a successful vaccine.
A couple thoughts:Took my kids to school this AM and that afforded me a rare opportunity to listen to NPR. It was mentioned that in the last 6 months, Florida is seeing a rate of approx 90 per 100,000 dying from COVID. That was labeled the highest among the top 6 in death rate, so I went and looked.
COVID deaths since April 1:
Florida - 19,590
Texas - 14,169
California - 6,408
New York - 4,930
Pennsylvania - 4,021
Illinois - 3,839
The bold stood out to me because of the silly comparisons we were making before between Newsom and DeSantis. It seems to me that if we are going to make person vs person or state vs state comparisons (and I don't think we should, but we can't seem to help ourselves) we really need to do it in terms of the waves and strands of the virus. In the era of Delta, Florida's death rate is 3 times larger than that of NY and 5 times larger than that of CA. Texas is just under half. We are talking about a period of time where every single adult (who wants one) has access to a successful vaccine.
To be fair, Florida isn't at the bottom of the barrel in terms of vaccinations, but it's not a great rate either. Also, it may be that Florida is just getting their issue out of the way as many have been inside all summer. Maybe the other states catch up this winter? Doesn't seem likely, but it's possible.
I hadn't really paid attention to what was going on in other states because ours has been so freakin' chaotic all by itself, but man this is brutal. All that said, it DOES look like our numbers are going down finally, so hopefully in a few weeks we can see pretty close to the totality of how Florida fared with the Delta strand. I just hope we don't get another variant that's worse than Delta. It's rather clear that Florida will continue to be the petri dish for each wave as this thing continues. I really wish the state would put more into media on getting vaccinated.
Not sure I agree but I guess it would depend on how you define "indulge" and especially how you define "anti vaxxer".A couple thoughts:
- indulged the anti-vaxxers, whether due to misguided ideology, political calculation, or some other reason. That would be wrong regardless of whether it moved Florida from 13th to 37th or whatever in deaths per 100K.
Don't know enough about this to say whether it's a good idea, but I am at least glad to see it's based on declining positivity rates. I don't have any particular emotional attachment for or against masks; if they can help save lives, I'm in favor of them. If they don't play a major role and people want to stop wearing them, I guess that's fine, too.Hillsborough County schools just voted to end the mask mandate.
It's not.Don't know enough about this to say whether it's a good idea, but I am at least glad to see it's based on declining positivity rates.
It’s about time"Forensic audits" for Florida?
https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=73130
Don't forget putting things "in scope" that weren't outlined on the ballot initiative.Absolutely infuriating
Everything about this story makes my blood boil: ignoring the will of the voters, instituting a poll tax, making it so Kafkaesque that many people find it impossible to pay their fines even if they have the money, and worst of all, doing all this to perpetuate a voting restriction that is literally from the era of Jim Crow
https://ballotpedia.org/Voting_rights_for_convicted_felonsAbsolutely infuriating
Everything about this story makes my blood boil: ignoring the will of the voters, instituting a poll tax, making it so Kafkaesque that many people find it impossible to pay their fines even if they have the money, and worst of all, doing all this to perpetuate a voting restriction that is literally from the era of Jim Crow
meh.....the ballot initiative was to restore rights of felons who have completed their sentences. It's ok to be pissed off that the legislature went against that and added things in their overreach. None of what you post here has to do with the problems this legislature created. If a fine was part of their sentence then I'd expect the payment to be part of the terms in defining "completing their sentence". That's not where they stopped.https://ballotpedia.org/Voting_rights_for_convicted_felons
There are laws in each and every state in the union regarding what you lose when you murder and/or commit certain felonies. A felony is not a small matter. Sometimes, when you do things...bad things...there are consequences.
There are always arcs for redemption but there are also rules and conditions before a restoration. At one time, Florida actually made movements to restore rights to people who completed their sentences. At the time it was the largest vote restoration in the nation. During this past election, Bloomberg gave millions and millions of dollars to pay these fines for people to restore their rights.
Each of us may come to different views of something like this but we should at least look at it in it's entirety and understand that this situation comes as a result of serious individual actions and the state of Florida and other states have exacted a lot of legislation to give a restoration option IF the offending person is willing to repay society. As a citizen, if I owe $8,000 to be able to vote again as the offset of my felony or murder, that may be reasonable to me, unreasonable to the family of whose father I killed, etc. Perspective.
When people respond with "meh" it clearly discloses the level of commitment you have to actually adding some discussion to something. You want to dismiss it in a way you think is cool and trendy without getting to the actual details. That's fine. Just say that. Or better yet...don't say anything.meh.....the ballot initiative was to restore rights of felons who have completed their sentences. It's ok to be pissed off that the legislature went against that and added things in their overreach. None of what you post here has to do with the problems this legislature created. If a fine was part of their sentence then I'd expect the payment to be part of the terms in defining "completing their sentence". That's not where they stopped.
This has been thoroughly discussed in this thread already. It's pretty simple. The legislature was tasked with passing a specific thing by the voters. They are held by state Constitutional law to do that thing. It wasn't a suggestion or a recommendation. This notion of "be happy they did something. They didn't have to do anything" is patently absurd. And what was being asked wasn't ground breaking. Many other states have already done this sort of thing. The voters here are simply dragging the legislature along at this point. The problem, of course, was they went well beyond the specific thing they were supposed to do. If you'd like to address that, then please do. I saw that nowhere in the word salad above. As I said in my initial post, I have no problem with fines communicated via the sentencing. Those should be paid back. It's all the other stuff outside the sentence that they dumped on top of it that's the problem. That's overreach and well outside of what the amendment required that the people voted on.When people respond with "meh" it clearly discloses the level of commitment you have to actually adding some discussion to something. You want to dismiss it in a way you think is cool and trendy without getting to the actual details. That's fine. Just say that. Or better yet...don't say anything.
But don't be that small person who wants to hate on something so bad that you will just completely ignore reality and facts and try to undermine what took place. The state made the largest sweeping change in the nations. Dems and Republicans both praised the initiative. You might think little of it but it wasn't that long ago in this country that people thought it reasonable that if your raped, murdered, committed felonies that it was reasonable that you might not get a voice in this country as a heinous offender. But nevermind that. Florida, this state some people are wanting to criticize over this, actually said "you serve your sentence, you can vote again".
There was no problem with issues created from this. they didn't even HAVE to extend the olive branch...but they did. So, after the fact, when someone said "hey, a sentence isn't just the time a person spent in a cell and orange jumper" (just like how one thing doesn't usually define an of us in any aspect of life), it was not at all reasonable to say repaying your debt to society also actually requires you....repay it. It is not like ANY plan or action that is put into place isn't commonly subject to review and refinement.
So don't be shallow and state it like "they didn't stop". Don't color it falsely because you know like the rest of us that policies are implemented and refined. It was never "they didn't stop". It was "they did something (something they didn't even have to) and then they refined it to set up reasonable requirements to regain a privilege that THEY jeopardized when they raped, murdered, committed felonies. They aren't victims here. The true victims are dead or gravely ruined for life.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but did the legislature have to do anything? My impression was that voter-approved amendments are self-operationalizing. Certainly, the county elections officials who immediately started registering ex-felons after the election seemed to think so.This has been thoroughly discussed in this thread already. It's pretty simple. The legislature was tasked with passing a specific thing by the voters. They are held by state Constitutional law to do that thing. It wasn't a suggestion or a recommendation.
Someone has to put the laws on the books. This was an amendment to make them put it on the books, plus some.Correct me if I’m wrong, but did the legislature have to do anything? My impression was that voter-approved amendments are self-operationalizing. Certainly, the county elections officials who immediately started registering ex-felons after the election seemed to think so.
Amendment 4 excludes murderers and felony sexual offenders. Almost 50% of felons in jail committed drug offenses. The entire implementation of Amendment 4 is about political power.https://ballotpedia.org/Voting_rights_for_convicted_felons
There are laws in each and every state in the union regarding what you lose when you murder and/or commit certain felonies. A felony is not a small matter. Sometimes, when you do things...bad things...there are consequences.
There are always arcs for redemption but there are also rules and conditions before a restoration. At one time, Florida actually made movements to restore rights to people who completed their sentences. At the time it was the largest vote restoration in the nation. During this past election, Bloomberg gave millions and millions of dollars to pay these fines for people to restore their rights.
Each of us may come to different views of something like this but we should at least look at it in it's entirety and understand that this situation comes as a result of serious individual actions and the state of Florida and other states have exacted a lot of legislation to give a restoration option IF the offending person is willing to repay society. As a citizen, if I owe $8,000 to be able to vote again as the offset of my felony or murder, that may be reasonable to me, unreasonable to the family of whose father I killed, etc. Perspective.
The point isn't to critique the tactics of candidates in a single primary in a majority-Black district. The point is that Florida Dems should have it in their DNA by now to build in appeals to Latinos, and they just don't. That suggests a much deeper rot.Rolando Barrero is the type of person a congressional candidate ought to know.
Barrero, an art gallery owner and president of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus in Palm Beach County, hosts voter registration events and organizes rallies with committed party stalwarts who could help knock on doors and move the needle in a competitive election.
But since longtime U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings died in April, triggering a special primary election scheduled for November 2, Barrero, who lives in Hastings’ district, said he’s heard from just one of the 11 Democrats running.
“There’s absolutely no outreach to Hispanic voters,” Barrero said. “Only one of them made an attempt on a Zoom call to address the Hispanic community.”
Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which includes portions of Palm Beach and Broward Counties, is a majority-Black and heavily Democratic seat, meaning whoever wins the Democratic primary is essentially a member of Congress in-waiting until the general election in January 2022. But while Black voters make up about 53% of the district’s population, Hispanic voters comprise 27%, the second-largest population group in the seat, according to 2019 Census figures.
Yet, despite a saturated field and a Hispanic population percentage that mirrors Florida’s statewide average, Democrats and political strategists who are following the race say none of the 11 candidates running for the Democratic nomination appear to be making a concerted effort to campaign for Hispanic votes or releasing campaign materials in Spanish.
I had initially seen reports that he wants to prevent private employers from mandating vaccines for their employees, but I don't see any mention of that in the Herald's articleFlorida’s governor has declared war on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.
At a Thursday news conference in Clearwater, Gov. Ron DeSantis laid out a litany of legislative policy priorities that would undermine federal requirements that workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Among the laws DeSantis wants to see passed:
A proposal making businesses liable for any medical harm that results from a mandatory vaccination
A measure allowing parents to collect attorney’s fees if they win a lawsuit against a school district for enacting illegal coronavirus restrictions
A law making it clear that it’s illegal for governments to mandate the vaccine for government employees
Well it's good to see at least one politician looking out for his constituents.Florida’s governor wants a special session of the Legislature to pass new COVID laws
I had initially seen reports that he wants to prevent private employers from mandating vaccines for their employees, but I don't see any mention of that in the Herald's article
There are always arcs for redemption but there are also rules and conditions before a restoration. At one time, Florida actually made movements to restore rights to people who completed their sentences. At the time it was the largest vote restoration in the nation. During this past election, Bloomberg gave millions and millions of dollars to pay these fines for people to restore their rights.
Because money is fungible, time isn't. What's the difference if I give you the money then you pay the fine, I pay you to perform a service for me then you pay the fine, or I pay the fine directly?This still bothers me. A fine is part of your punishment, same as a jail sentence.
You can't have somebody do the jail time for you, why should someone else be able to pay your fine?