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Posts from the ‘covid19’ Category

Apr 23

Covid-19 Update | April 23 at 12:15 PM

I’m not doing a full update tonight. Just going to keep it light but make a good point. Florida had 60 deaths reported today. Bringing total deaths to 927. But if you read the daily report from Florida DOH, you see some interesting things in the numbers. 46 of them are from Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach (SE Florida aka NYC South). If you remove these three counties from Florida, we are still by far the 4th largest state in the nation (16.3 million outside SE Florida; 5.2 million in SE Florida) and there were 16 deaths everywhere else. Going back to the total deaths. Of the 927deaths, 525 are from SE FL and 127 are from nursing homes outside of SE Florida. So, we have 275 total deaths from COVID-19 in the 16.2 million Floridians outside of SE Florida who are not nursing home residents. If you are neither, you sit in a group of Floridians (all ages that aren’t in a nursing homes or SE Florida) that have survived a risk of death of 0.0017%. Put into perspective in a given year, a person is 10x more likely to die from ingesting poison or noxious substance, 8x more likely to die of an opioid overdose, 7x more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident, and 2.5x more likely to die from a gunshot. If that isn’t putting the risk into perspective, I don’t know what else can. So, it’s ok to responsibly enjoy life with a clear conscience!

Apr 22

Covid-19 Update | April 22 at 9:59 PM

I skipped my birthday for an update, so here’s a new one. We are seeing the green shoots of reopening everywhere. Bay County voted to reopen the Beaches on Friday. Gov. Desantis says the worst is behind us. Georgia is open for business. I can say this is the first week in six that we have more business than the prior week at my practice’s 26 locations. All signs point toward Florida sticking with May 1st letting the Safer-At-Home order expire and allow non-essential businesses and restaurants reopen. The summer tourism season looks like it will be saved. It will be a bit different and I’m sure there will be some capacity limits and more space between groups on the beach and in restaurants, but we can return to a sense of normalcy far earlier than the rest of the country. It’s depressing for the people living in other regions with leadership that is doubling down on their bad policies, but it will just mean our region will grow faster and it will be up to us to remind them of the error of their ways so that the next time a new scary virus comes along we speak louder than the ones who want us to shut down our economy again. From an update standpoint. One new case in Bay County yesterday with over 30 new tests, so no surprise because more tests will yield six positives per 100 tests. Florida continues to stay well under 1,000 new cases even though we are now testing nearly 10,000 per day. The NYC and Detroit area have 64% of all the deaths in the US and as I stated two days ago New Orleans is rapidly recovering. They only reported 331 new cases, which is the lowest in over a month for them. Great state and local leader plus heat, humidity, and sunlight will make the Southeast the winners in COVID recovery. Bay County still has the lowest rate of infection per capita in the state among counties with over 100,000 residents and has a rate lower than any state in the nation. We are blessed to live among such level headed people who mostly reject fear and know we have work to do in order to reverse the damage that has been done. For about another month, elderly and immune compromised residents should continue to stay at home except for receipt of essential services; but based on the White House guidelines, even at-risk populations are allowed back in the public after Phase Two is completed. Until tomorrow, I hope you all have an incredibly happy and productive day.

Apr 20

Covid-19 Update | April 20 at 9:21 PM

Ok, time for tonight’s coronavirus update brought to you the Southeastern Conference, leading the nation in common sense and economic recovery! So here are how the SEC states are reopening for business. Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia announced gyms, hair salons, and retail business can reopen on Friday, April 24th and that restaurants and movie theaters can reopen on Monday the 27th. I also learned that the 110 miles of Georgia’s coastline has been open for recreation since April 4th. They have banned beach chairs and umbrellas, but you would think if open beaches were going to bring throngs of out-of-towners, we would have heard about it in Georgia. Also, their coastal counties have very few coronavirus cases and the higher numbers are in the Albany and Atlanta areas. South Carolina opens their beaches tomorrow, along with their retail stores. Texas will allow elective surgeries starting tomorrow at midnight and they are also opening their state parks. And Tennessee has announced that all major businesses will be allowed to open May 1st and that some may be allowed to open sooner. Alabama has a plan on their governor’s desk to allow for hair salons and retail stores to open immediately and elective surgeries and restaurants on May 1st. And Florida’s Reopening task force was named and had their first teleconference today. They will be meeting twice a day and the governor expects their plan completed by Friday. I think the governor intends to let the Stay-At-Home order expire on April 30th. He has already told local leaders they have the green light to reopen their beaches and the City of Mexico beach and Jacksonville have done just that. Neither place has had tourists flock in and it is just locals getting some exercise and Vitamin D. I’m glad we live in the region of the country where the protest of governmental overreach is not necessary. So, now for the coronavirus update. Here in Bay County, two new cases since yesterday. Bringing our total to 57, from a total of 867 tests. Just over 6% of our tests are positive. Some locals have voiced concern about the rapid increase in cases, it is an unfortunate side effect of more testing. If you look at doubling time of cases, which with a virus would indicate an outbreak worsening if the doubling times didn’t go down. On March 25th, we had three cases and we reached six on March 29th. We then reached 12 on April 1st, 24 on April 7th, and 48 on April 18th. So, the virus is not indicating a rapid transmission of cases, but people get concerned because the media can’t put anything into proper context. Florida for three days in a row now has had 700-800 positive cases, well under the 1,200 a day for a week during the peak. Also, for the first day ever, Florida’s percent of positive cases is now under 10%. The increased access to testing is showing fewer positive cases. The national story is the same as yesterday. No new hot spots, and New Orleans is rapidly improving. NYC metro, Detroit, and Boston area are problems; and its very interesting that they have all been on strict lock down for weeks now. I think we should all be rethinking this Stay-at-home thing for those at low risk. The great news is we are at the end, we are fortunate to live in a state with leaders that care about BOTH our health and the economy and understand that you can’t have one without the other, and if you’re not planning for what happens in life after quarantine you better start now. Good night all!

Apr 19

Covid-19 Update | April 19 at 8:28 PM

Ok, it’s time for tonight’s coronavirus update brought to you by Nike, and our theme for tonight is “Just Do It!” Since last Thursday’s update a lot has changed. We have so much more data to use and make decisions based upon. First, the actual national, state, and local data. No new national hot spots have emerged. 65% of the nation’s COVID deaths are from NYC metro and Detroit, despite the areas only having 13% of the population. This is a regional issue primarily. Hospitals in the NYC area are finally having discharges exceeding admission and the ICU and inpatient bed data in Michigan shows availability throughout their state. New Orleans also has had declining cases and mortality for many days now. The Boston area has had so many of their nursing homes affected that 810 of the state’s 1,560 deaths are these patients. That’s right, almost 60% in MA and in New Jersey 40% are from nursing homes. NY/CT/MI do not have information on nursing homes immediately available. In Florida, only 175 of the state’s 774 deaths are from nursing homes. That is a credit to our governor acting on proven measures and doing so swiftly and early on. Much like President Trump shutting down travel from China, Gov. Desantis ending visitation to nursing homes has saved more lives in our state than any other action. Florida has just over 26k cases and 774 deaths. Our state’s cases and deaths are overwhelmingly from Broward, Dade, and Palm Beach counties. Bay County has registered 13 new cases in three days and that is from 156 tests. Our percent of positive tests is still running at 6%. At 324 cases per million, we are still the lowest in FL and lower than any state in the nation. So new studies really blow the doors off the lockdown alarmists this weekend. First a seroprevalence study in Chelsea, MA tested 200 random healthy adults (with no COVID symptoms or testing) for antibodies and 32% tested positive. That is nearing the level you need for herd immunity. They say 60% gets you to effective herd immunity. Given that 1% of Suffolk county, MA residents have tested positive for COVID, it indicates that for every one case of tested symptomatic disease there are 30 cases of very mild or completely asymptomatic disease. So, in reality the 3% case fatality rate quoted in the literature is closer to 0.1%. And that’s flu numbers right there. What other bombshell data has come out that the media hasn’t picked up on? It appears that the Dept. of Homeland Security has been looking at transmission characteristics of COVID-19 and has found high heat, humidity, and UV light quickly inactivate the virus. Great evidence for opening up the beaches and outdoor venues as soon as possible. The last study I am going to leave here for anyone to read is going to probably be a bit of a bummer because we all hate to have done something painful for no real benefit. But the author of this study looked at the lockdowns based on the date instituted by state and the outcomes on death rates and found no correlation at all. He did find population density as a correlation; however, it was weak. He is planning on running eight or so more variables to see if mass transit is a commonality with high death rates. Last, the Sweden experiment is going well. They have peaked on deaths and they are the nation that decided to keep schools and businesses open and just isolate their at-risk populations. So, I know many of you are nervous about reopening America, but I can tell you we need to channel our inner Nike and Just Do It. Florida has everything going for it — heat, humidity, and sunlight to destroy the virus. A young workforce ready to spring back into action. And we are in a regional pact with Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Mississippi; SC has already announced opening of its retail businesses, beaches, and restaurants starting next week with social distancing measures in place. Alabama has its plans ready to go. Gov. Desantis is coming out on Tuesday with our state’s plan as well. I do want to reiterate that I do recommend at-risk individuals continuing to isolate themselves and that we all continue to practice impeccable hand hygiene and social distancing in public settings. Have a great night and I feel certain we will have a great week with much good news ahead.

Apr 16

Covid-19 Update | April 16 at 9:15 PM

Tonight’s coronavirus update is brought to you by Circle K, giving out free coffee and Big Gulps to all healthcare workers! I got my gas and when I went to pay for my big gulp, they told me it was free! So, let’s start with the Trump administration’s Guidelines for Reopening America. I had some misunderstandings when I read through it at first. I assumed the start date was May 1st, but in fact President Trump said some states could start Phase One as soon as tomorrow. To qualify for Phase One, you have to have a decrease in CDC reported influenza like illness. You need a 14-day declining number of new cases. And you need hospitals with surge capacity in your state. I checked on all three for Florida and unless we have a giant surge in cases tomorrow, we peaked on April 3rd and have had a downward trend since then. So, while I don’t think we will see it this week, we could get Phase One starting sometime next week. Phase One does not allow schools to reopen, but it pretty much allows everything else to open back up as long as the businesses (including restaurants) adhere to strict social distancing. After two weeks in Phase One and no increase in cases and/or outbreaks, Phase Two can begin. Under Phase Two, schools are allowed to reopen. Businesses can ease restrictions and larger gatherings (10-50 people) are once again allowed. During Phase One and Two, the elderly and immune compromised are to stay isolated and no visitors allowed in hospitals or nursing homes. If after two weeks of Phase Two there are no increases in cases, then it’s pretty much good hand hygiene, mild social distancing, and life is pretty much back to normal with the use of caution. Theoretically, schools can reopen after two successful weeks of Phase One, so some states that enter Phase One tomorrow could be back in school by May 1. I’m going to bet Florida will be a week behind just to be extra cautious. And great news for my surgeon and dental friends, Phase One lets you all get back to taking care of elective procedures! So, getting back to the statistical analysis, I want to discuss the much touted IHME model and talk about something interesting about these lockdowns. So, IHME had predicted a peak in deaths in New York on April 10th with 800 total; in reality they peaked at 1,033 yesterday. In New Jersey, they had predicted a peak of 272 deaths on April 8th, but they have yet to reach a peak and had over 350 deaths today. Michigan is also past their peak and having higher rates of death. This is interesting in light of a paper published from China this week reporting that 79% of traceable cases came from contact in small enclosed indoor spaces, primarily homes. So, by driving people indoors, you’re actually increasing their risk of infection. Its counter-intuitive but may be the case in areas with a high prevalence of disease. Food for thought. Now the data. Bay county has three new cases, but overall, we are the lowest rate of cases in the state for a county of our size and still have a lower concentration of cases than any state in the US. Florida ranks 20th in the nation in cases per million, behind Mississippi and ahead of Nevada. The US still has its major hot spots accounting for nearly half of new cases and almost 60% of new deaths. Thanks to God for getting us past the part where our hospitals were at risk of being overwhelmed and thanks to this President for following through on his promise to get us all back to work as the crisis abated. I’m going to take this weekend off unless something major happens. Everyone enjoy their last few days of quarantine and have a great weekend!

Apr 15

Covid-19 Update | April 15 at 9:03 PM

OK folks, so tonight’s coronavirus update is brought to you by U-Haul, helping do it yourself movers since 1945. Speaking of moving, tonight’s update is going to start with two expressions you’ve all heard, one related to COVID and one that is not specifically related, but applicable. So, we’ve all heard the expression “flatten the curve.” People have short memories, so I’ve pasted the CDC image below. The line under which we were told to stay home in order to flatten the curve beneath was hospital system capacity. If we didn’t stay home and flatten the curve, we wouldn’t have enough beds, ICU space, health care workers and ventilators to take care of all the COVID patients all over the nation. We all needed to come together and do our part so that Doctor Smith isn’t having to pick between the 85-year-old retired teacher and the 44-year-old father of three supporting his family. That was happening in Italy last month and it was hard to question the wisdom and sense that it made at the time. Well my friends, today marked the first day since March that New York City had a net decline in hospital census, so not fewer hospitalizations, but more discharges than admissions. And if you have been following my updates, Florida’s hospitals are not only empty, but they are laying off their nurses and other employees. Why do you think there are so many Tik Tok video’s with nurses dancing around? The ones overrun with patients certainly wouldn’t have time to be on social media. Even the faulty IHME model that led to prolonged shutdowns agrees that we reached peak hospital resource use five days ago. So, mission accomplished and back to school and work, right? This brings us to our second expression, “moving the goalposts,” which is what the media and certain politicians are doing now. We are not at risk of having overrun hospitals, we are now supposed to stay at home to save every possible life until a vaccine is approved in 12 months. Not feasible and not part of what most of us agreed to. The media believes we have a short memory. They think we can be fooled. But it’s up to all of us to say “NO.” As you can see from The White House and The Governor’s office, President Trump and Gov. Desantis are making plans to open our nation and this state for business. I want to point out that no person under the age of 25 in the state of Florida has died from COVID. The only people who aren’t perfectly safe back in school are teachers and administrators over the age of 65 or who have major medical problems. These people should continue to voluntarily isolate themselves at home. The same is true for our workforce. The economy sheds one million jobs a day that we aren’t working. The longer this goes, the deeper in debt our country becomes and the harder it will be for all these businesses to get open again. We are at a point where we cannot let the media convince 80% of the population that its unsafe to go outside. The ill effects of the lockdowns are being felt disproportionately by children. I shared it earlier today, but a hospital in Houston has reported its third death by child abuse in four weeks and this represents a 600% increase over the expected number. Domestic violence, drug abuse, and alcoholism have also been reported to be on the rise. We also know with joblessness and substance abuse comes mental health conditions which will cause suicide. And it turns out that releasing violent criminals from prison has been a really bad idea and a Tampa man was murdered by one of these formerly incarcerated people. So, apologies for all the commentary and less actual data, but I felt this message was important to put out there. Now a quick and dirty on the data; two days in a row the nationwide death total has jumped way over anything previously seen. This is despite the number of cases increasing by 5% each of the last four days, the lowest daily case numbers since the start of the outbreak. These higher numbers seem to coincide with the liberal counting of anything that might be covid as covid. Almost 60% of the deaths are from NY/NJ/CT/MI all states that have been on “lock down” for three or more weeks. California has been on lockdown longer than a month now and they had their highest day of deaths ever at 82. It really makes one question the effectiveness of lockdowns on number of deaths. Moving back and looking at Florida, 891 cases and 43 deaths puts us on a really good trajectory. Our cases have receded from the peak for five days now and we still have a relatively low number of deaths. By comparison, Ohio which has been on lockdown for two more weeks than us has more deaths per capita. We are really beating the odds for some reason that seems completely unrelated to economic shutdown. Last, Bay County had one more case; so, in the last seven days we had a total of five cases. At 39 total, we are the lowest in the state and lower than any state in the nation. And based on the amount of traffic I see out I don’t think it’s all related to extreme social distancing. I think the end of the week is going to bring good news to all of us who have been wanting to see an end to this shutdown and until tomorrow night let’s keep the U-Hauls away from those goalposts.

Apr 14

Covid-19 Update | April 14 at 8:40 PM

So, tonight’s coronavirus update is brought to you by ESPN Classic, where we play games so old, they’ll seem like their brand new! I’m starting with the best darn news of the day: we’re going to have the most epic TV sporting summer of our lifetimes. Both Gov. Desantis and Pres. Trump talked about the need to bring back sports as soon as possible. Trump is bringing an entire sports task force and Desantis has added WWE to essential services and specifically mentioned NASCAR as a sport to bring back ASAP. Can I get an “Amen” if you’re sick and tired of watching the Kick Six for the 15th time or every New England Patriots Playoff game? We have the NFL draft next week, then we’ll have sports with no spectators (like a million times better than nothing). And by June we may even get to go to some games. So, there’s the good. Now the bad and downright sad. The accuracy of the numbers of deaths were already controversial. Today, it got worse. The city of New York just added 3,700 new COVID deaths dating back to March 11 as probable. Their definition doesn’t require a positive test, simply a diagnosis of possible COVID 19 or similar diagnosis. This is the beginning of the end for trusting death data. From the department of trampled liberty, protesters in Raleigh, NC, were arrested for you guessed it… leaving their homes to perform a constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech and assembly; but the Democratic governor determined it a non-essential function in voicing their disagreement with staying at home. Look for more of this as over 350,000 Michiganders have joined an anti-gov. Gretchen Whitmer Facebook group and they are protesting in Lansing tomorrow. Back to good news, both Trump and Desantis in their press briefings today said to be ready for the reopening of the economy in May. Trump said some states may reopen even earlier. Desantis also did not rule out school starting back in May. Everything is looking good as long as you aren’t in New York City or Detroit. Nationwide number of cases continue to decline. There are no new hotspots developing. There was a high number of deaths nationwide today at just over 2,400. I’m not sure how much of it is liberal classification of a COVID death vs reality. The number of cases had been falling four days straight and then we set a new record high. It’s odd to say the least. Here in Florida we had the lowest number of cases since March 26th. So that is great news in the state. Deaths were high at 74 and mostly from SE Florida. In Bay County, we are still at 38 cases and that is the number we have been at for 48 hours, which is a great thing. Our county is truly blessed with a very low number of cases for our population, among the best in the nation. We are getting close to official announcements of re-openings and members of a certain party and the media are going to make wild assertions and try to scare people into a frenzy for us all to go back into lockdown. All of you hardworking good people, that will not be the time to let the vocal minority shout you down; that will be the time to shout back twice as loud. Be prepared and our country will come through this with far less death and economic damage than if the opposition has their way. That’s all for tonight and I’ll be back again tomorrow.

Apr 13

Covid-19 Update | April 13 at 8:25 PM

Tonight’s coronavirus update is brought to by Disney, the happiest place on Earth until they added 43,000 to the unemployment rolls. Good news continues to come in. The White House Task Force briefing announced their economic plans to reopen the economy will be unveiled this week. We can rest assured that May will bring the start of the revival of the US workforce and perhaps even the educational system. The US set a recent low on deaths and cases for the 4th straight day. And Florida also seems to have peaked in our number of cases and deaths. Bay County sits at 38 cases and still has a lower number of cases per million than any county in Florida with a population of over 100,000 and is still lower than the average of any state in the nation. Two other key pieces of data came in today. One of the only modern countries in the world to not go on lockdown, Sweden, that was being chastised by the world community, had their cases and deaths peak on April 7th at 114; and now they have been under 20 for the last three days. The effectiveness of lockdowns has limited data; social distancing, hand hygiene, and masks in the absence of distancing are prudent and restrict no one’s personal liberties. Sweden is a case study in handling COVID without shutdowns and school closures. They chose faster development of herd immunity and from my view, it looks like they made the right choice. Last, a key study published in NEJM gives a glimpse into what the true prevalence of COVID-19 may be. Two hospitals in NYC tested every mother delivering children in their hospital from March 22nd to April 4th for COVID-19. A total of 215 pregnant women were tested and four had COVID-19 symptoms. All four with symptoms tested positive. Of the 211 asymptomatic pregnant women, 29 tested positive. Of the 29, only 3 developed any COVID-19 symptoms during their 48-hour postpartum stay. This study is important because it is a nice, relatively random sampling of young, healthy adults in a highly exposed region. Currently in NYC, 107k people have tested positive, so 1.2% of symptomatic patients test positive. Of these women, 26 testing positive had no symptoms before and two days after they went to the hospital through discharge. So, if this sample of women in NYC are indicative of young healthy adults, it is likely that 4-5X the number of those with symptoms got infected and never knew it. This confirms the results of the Iceland populational study and a recent German study showing that by adding in the asymptomatic infections the true mortality rate is somewhere in the range of 0.1-0.5% and more like a bad strain of flu rather than significantly more lethal. Good news keeps on coming in and while I don’t think restrictions will be lifted before April 30th, I would bet the farm that on Star Wars Day we should get prepared for most of our normal daily activities to be resumed. Good night!

Apr 11

Covid-19 Update | April 11 at 10:21 PM

So, tonight’s coronavirus update is brought to you by the Cadbury Egg. Remember, it’s just not Easter until you’ve savored the unique milk chocolate shell and soft fondant center of a CADBURY CREME EGG. Pretty excellent news coming from all sources today. 1,830 deaths is a 5 day low and the 30,003 new cases is a 9 day low. 65% of the nation’s cases and deaths are in NYC metro and Detroit. Florida’s 1,018 new cases is also the lowest number from the last 10 days and 680 of them are Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. 38% of Florida’s ICU beds are empty and 45% of regular beds are empty. The idea that we are past the peak seems to be holding up pretty well. Bay County had no new cases today. The prevalence of positive cases in the nation is 1,608 cases per million. In Florida, it is 883 cases per million, and in Bay County its 212 cases per million. So, we live in a very safe part of the world. The rate of cases here is still lower than the average of every state in the nation. So, the giant question looming over every policy maker’s head is when do we start the economy back up? We all know the answer is that the sooner we open, the easier for the economy. The real question is, was it business closures and stay at home orders that were the key or was it public education on social distancing and hand hygiene that made the difference? I find many key indicators that it is not business closures. Two similarly sized states with different approaches are Florida and Ohio. In Ohio, they enacted non-essential business closures and a statewide Stay-at-Home order on March 23rd. In Florida, we did the Safer-at-Home order on April 3rd. Also, Florida has an older population and is much more reliant on travel and tourism. One would expect that Ohio would be doing much better than Florida if the key was the Stay-At-home order. But the actual outcomes for both states are almost exactly the same. Florida has a COVID death rate of 22 per million and Ohio has a COVID death rate of 21 per million. One will be quick to point out that Ohio has fewer cases per million than Florida, but they also have less testing per capita by the exact same amount as they have fewer cases per capita. So, it is very hard to explain the efficacy of Stay-At-Home orders when looking at these two states in an objective manner. Other points of interest that I’ve discovered today is that demographic data of the deaths seem to pretty clearly indicate that COVID has killed more Americans over 90 than under 30 and more Americans over 75 than under 50. It’s not to say that the elderly aren’t loved and valued, but whereas the flu has a bimodal distribution of death (the very young and the very old), COVID seems to favor just the elderly. COVID takes fewer total years of life than the flu under the current modeling at 60,000 total US deaths. I predicted early this week that if trends continued as they were going, we would begin to hear about the loosening of restrictions in some states. I am glad to be in a state where I can still legally visit my friends in the Cove and attend a worship service if I wanted to. I think it’s really safe for the stay at home orders to be lifted for those under 65 as long as we keep hand hygiene and social distancing in mind. The media is going to do everything they can to keep you scared despite the clear evidence to the contrary. I hope you all have a blessed Easter and fun with your families! I’m going to skip tomorrow’s update and catch back up with you all on Monday!

Apr 10

Covid-19 Update | April 10 at 11:46 PM

So, tonight’s coronavirus update is brought to you by founding father Ben Franklin. He has many quotes that are poignant, but for tonight I feel this one is the best: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety.” We do have a few more cases in Bay County and an additional 1,110 cases in Florida, which is a 7% increase. The number of deaths in Florida continues to come in well below the estimates of the IHME model and we are on track to have fewer COVID-19 deaths in the state than we do in a bad flu season. In good news today, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced he is ready to unveil a plan to put Texas back to work. When the IHME model had apocalyptic projections 2 weeks ago, Gov. Abbott and many other governors issued Stay-At-Home orders, but when those projections proved wrong, he is the first to reassess and change course. Just 10 days after his executive order closing non-essential businesses, on Monday, he is likely to re-open Texas for business. This is a great sign as 5 states never did close businesses and they are doing great compared with states that did close businesses. I see other states, including Florida, following the lead of Texas in the coming week to decide it’s time to put everyone back to work. These orders will likely continue to recommend social distancing, hand washing, and maybe even wearing masks. There will likely be recommended Stay-at-home orders for the elderly and very ill, who do have an increased risk of mortality. The most difficult decision will be the resumption of schools which is fine from a health standpoint but is it worth the trouble to bring kids back for 4-5 weeks of school and the political costs from those who are convinced COVID-19 can kill their kids, even though it’s far less lethal to children than the flu. We’ll see… the major trends in the nation continue, 60% of all deaths in the country are still coming from NYC metro and Detroit; and 60% of deaths in our state are from Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade counties. Outside of metro NYC and a few other metro areas, hospitals sit empty and health care workers are having hours cut or they are being laid off. In Florida, even in Palm Beach, Miami Dade and Broward counties, hospitals and their ICUs have nearly half of their beds empty. Bay County is still sitting with a lower case per million rate than any of the 50 states in the nation, so we are truly blessed even though we are up to 36 total cases. Another thing to be truly thankful for is the leadership of our governor, Ron Desantis. He issued the weakest possible Safer-At-Home order to appease the media, who were clamoring for it. He has not ruled out the possibility of school coming back in May, even though the media cries foul over it. He told them that COVID-19 doesn’t kill children and they find a handful of children in the nation that had it and died and claim he’s an idiot when in reality the flu is and has been proven to be far more lethal to children and it’s not even medically debatable. Do we close school for the flu? Anyway, we could be stuck with the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, who signed an executive order in her state today making it a misdemeanor with a $1,000 fine to go to your neighbor’s house. She is still allowing people to visit relatives in nursing homes, but have your kids play across the street with friends and you’re a criminal. That’s all for tonight.

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