shader
Footballguy
Less severe symptoms and shorter ICU stays is a direct result of younger patients, in my opinion.In the hardest hit areas in Florida, namely, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, officials have taken more action than elsewhere in Florida. And mask usage in stores is near 100%. Obviously, it's not enough as the virus continues to spread. Other factors are at play such as poverty, living density, types of jobs, protests, etc. Contact tracing is still poor so these are mainly conjectures at this point.
ER doctors in South Florida have said that patients are coming in earlier with less severe symptoms, standard of care has improved and patients are much younger than earlier and length of stay is much less. Overall death rate has declined dramatically, but deaths could be offset by an increase in positive cases. Time will tell. Also, just keeping the total deaths in Florida between 35 and 50 (7-day moving average), as it has been for 2 months, is not acceptable.
There should be strict national standards for contact tracing, so we can better guide decisions. The government and NIH are throwing lots of money at this, what's another couple of billion.
Contact tracing in Florida: https://mobile.twitter.com/conarck/status/1279826497482764290
Today the median age for Florida's cases was 38. That number is, slowly, rising. 38 is the median age for the USA, but the median age for Florida is 42. So as more and more older ones get it, symptoms will be more severe, and the length of stay will be longer. That's just how this virus works.
Also, I'd love to get some perspective from other South Florida folks regarding mask usage in stores. Is it really near 100%? If so, that's great news.
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