Florida hit a grim new record, Sunday, as state health officials reported 15,300 new cases of COVID-19, which shatters the national record for the highest number of new confirmed cases of the virus reported in a single day. California held the previous record with 11,694 cases of the virus reported four days prior, and before that New York set the record with 11,571 cases reported April 15th.
Sunday marked the third consecutive day of single-day increases of at least 10,000 cases of the virus and the 19th consecutive day of at least 5,000 new cases. Florida’s total caseload now stands 269,811 cases.
The Florida Department of Health also reported 45 new coronavirus-related deaths, July 12, increasing the statewide death toll to 4,242 fatalities. Last week, Florida reported more coronavirus-related deaths than during any previous seven-day period since the pandemic began with an average of 71 deaths per day.
State health officials reported 248 new COVID-19 hospitalizations, Sunday, for a total of 18,271 hospitalizations since the pandemic began.
Of the 2,576,813 tests that have been performed in Florida so far, 10.5% have been positive for the virus. Florida’s positivity rate held steady, Sunday, after increasing for 27 consecutive days.
Since phase two of Gov. Ron DeSantis' reopening plan went into effect June 5, Florida has seen more than 208,000 new cases of the virus accounting for 77% of Florida's total caseload since the pandemic started.
Here in the Southwest Florida region including Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota Counties, state health officials now report a total of 27,077 cases of the virus including 627 deaths. Lee County's total caseload now tops the 10,000 mark.
Florida Senate President Bill Galvano says local school districts must follow an order from the state Department of Education to offer in-person classes five days a week starting in August. Some school districts are pushing back on the order. During a press briefing with the governor in Bradenton a reporter said Manatee County is one example. The district claims it’s up to the school board to decide when kids should be back in the classroom. Galvano disagrees. He says the order from Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran must be followed.
"This is not just a one-sentence order. A lot of time went into it. Commissioner Corcoran wanted to give direction. It also includes a collaboration with the Department of Health, but schoolboards cannot ignore this order,” Galvano said.
Reporters asked the same question of Gov. Ron DeSantis who sidestepped some. But he did say local districts would be responsible for shaping what school looks like in the fall—a picture he says is going to look different for different counties.
“The local folks are going to have to fashion things and I think it will look different here than it will look in maybe Broward, and I think it will look different yet than it does in the Panhandle. But I think there’s significant cost with not affording the opportunity for kids to have in-person education," DeSantis said.
DeSantis says he supports school choice and wants parents to have options to continue distance learning or to send their students back to the classroom. He says while he wouldn’t hesitate to send his own children, who are not yet school-aged, to school, he wants parents to feel comfortable with their choices.
While Gov. DeSantis says the risk coronavirus poses to children is 'incredibly low' and that kids don’t appear to spread the virus to adults, pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Sunil Sood of Northwell Health in New York, says there is not a lot of research on this.
“The data is limited. It’s from a few studies in a few countries only and we’re cautiously optimistic in saying they’re (children) less likely to spread it, but I don’t think we can be 100% sure of that yet,” said Dr. Sood.
In a press conference Saturday, DeSantis did not mention the risk to teachers and adult staff. Dr. Sood said children can and do spread viruses, mainly by coughing and breathing droplets into the air and that’s why the input of local public health experts is key to determining whether a return to school is safe, based on the level of virus in the community.
“I think we have to keep in mind that the vast majority of school openings have gone well, especially in countries that have been able to achieve country-wide control of the spread,” said Dr. Sood.
He says physical distancing, outdoor classrooms and mask-wearing are important in any back to school plan. He advises people to listen to local public health departments for guidance.
Roughly 20 I-C-U beds remained over the weekend at Jackson Memorial, the main hospital of the Jackson Health System. It hasn’t run out of bed space, but more nurses have been sent to work there by the state, because of the patient uptick.
Those new patients are younger and not always coming in because of COVID-19 alone.
Roy Hawkins Jr. is Jackson Memorial’s chief executive officer. He says the hospital has set up COVID positive units specifically designated for coronavirus patients.
Many of these patients are younger but also sicker. They have other diseases, like diabetes or COPD. That’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. And that, plus the coronavirus, brings them in for care.
“During the time when the city was shut down and everyone was quarantined, I don't think folks were really taking the best care of themselves,” he said.
He adds that they may have stopped going for checkups or taking their medication. And now COVID-19 has made them gravely ill.
Still, Dr. David de la Zerda, ICU medical director at Jackson, wants young people to know that even without other diseases, COVID is serious.
“Young people need to understand that they can get sick and they can die from COVID-19.”
Sarasota Memorial is the first hospital in Florida to begin a scientific trial using an experimental antibody treatment to attack coronavirus. Doctors hope the treatment, called REGN-COV2 and made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, will offer a new way to treat and possibly prevent COVID-19.
SMH infectious disease doctor Manuel Gordillo said he is “very excited” about the trial, which began at Sarasota Memorial Hospital on Thursday as part of a wider multi-national study.
“This is a new antibody that has been specifically designed to attack the spike protein, which is a critical part of the coronavirus. It is the part of the virus that attaches to the human cells,” Gordillo said.
It is first being tested in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and who need oxygen. A second study is scheduled to begin in mid-July, testing the treatment in people with milder illness who are not hospitalized.
After that, a study will begin using the dual-action antibody treatment as a preventive measure in people who have been exposed to coronavirus and are at risk of getting sick.
“We will be giving them this treatment about once a month to try to prevent this. It will be sort of like a monthly vaccine type of treatment,” Gordillo said.
Regeneron’s antibody treatment is grown in a lab, so its supply doesn’t rely on human donations, like convalescent plasma, which doctors say is running critically low.
Another promising anti-viral treatment, remdesivir, is also in short supply. Gordillo said Florida ran out of remdesivir at the state level this week. He said hospital officials have sought federal help to get more. Governor Ron DeSantis said more vials would arrive Saturday.
Gordillo said the Regeneron antibody treatment is “the most promising technology out there. This will be like the next generation of treatments, so to speak.”
Last month, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly launched the first trial using a monoclonal antibody to attack coronavirus.
Like hospitals around Florida, Sarasota Memorial Hospital is seeing a surge in patients who are sick with COVID-19.
“Within a month, we have gone from single-digit patients to our nearly 100 patients in the hospital today,” said Gordillo in a Zoom interview distributed by the hospital on Friday.
“We're not going to get out of this second wave for a few weeks. At least until you know, there is less transmission in the community and usually that takes behavioral changes. That is going to take a while to develop," he added.
“The only effective measures that we have now are physical distancing, social distancing, mask use, hand hygiene and all the hygienic measures that we've been talking about for months now,” Gordillo said.
Convalescent plasma treatment involves giving blood from someone who has recovered from COVID-19 to someone who is sick with it, in the hope that the antibodies the well person developed will help the sick person fight the disease.
It’s too early to have any large published studies on how effective convalescent plasma is in treating people with COVID-19. But it’s looking promising.
“Small studies that have been published show that if you’re giving convalescent plasma early in disease, in that setting, there’s definitely a benefit for mortality. That means that if you get it compared to those who don’t get it, there is a survival benefit,” said Douglas Brust, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and the principal investigator of a convalescent plasma study at Lee Health.
As the number of cases rises, so does demand for the plasma.
“The need for convalescent plasma is only increasing because, as you see more and more cases of coronavirus happening, not only in Florida but around the country, that is driving increased usage,” said Susan Forbes of Oneblood, a not-for-profit that supplies blood to hospitals throughout Florida and beyond.
“If you’ve recovered from the coronavirus, you really hold a potential key of helping coronavirus patients recover,” she said.
Patients who have recovered can help locally by donating through Lee Health.
“If you’ve had a positive test for SARS COVID 2, that’s the virus that causes COVID 19, and either you were asymptomatic, you never had symptoms and it’s been at least 14 days, or you had symptoms but you’ve been better for at least 14 days, you can come right to Lee Health and donate blood and we will process it to plasma and use it right here in the community for patients that are in the hospital,” said Dr. Brust.
To find out more about donating, email covid.plasma@Leehealth.org.
Walt Disney World is open again- four months after the theme parks closed because of coronavirus.
The Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom opened to the public on a weekend that saw Florida setting a grim record: more than 15,000 COVID-19 cases reported in a single day.
For Disney fans, it was a trip to the Magic Kingdom like no other.
Crowds were limited with a reservation system, and the company rolled out a range of safety measures- like temperature checks, hand sanitizing stations, and social distancing on rides.
“I was extremely concerned, we almost didn’t go because I was so nervous,” said Kelly Pfeiffer.
She and her wife Jaci debated whether to take their kids to one of the annual passholder preview days.
“We’ve been staying inside and, like, self-quarantining and just being real safe because we have twins that are 13 months old,” she said.
They ended up going on Friday. Kelly said it felt like they had the park to themselves.
“Our daughter was running and her shoe fell off and Cinderella said ‘Oh, just like me,’ and like, they interacted with them personally, where it wasn’t like when there’s thousands of kids standing there and they just kind of put on a show. It felt more personal. And I think it was almost like more Disney Magic than usual.”
Jaci Pfeiffer said it was one of the best days they’ve had at Disney, but they haven’t decided when they’ll be back.
“If it’s more crowded, if things come up that, you know, seem unsafe, we still might end up canceling our passes. But after our experience on Friday, I would say it’s more likely that we’ll keep them than not.”
Seth Kubersky, one of the co-authors of the Unofficial Guides and a columnist for the Orlando Weekly, said the park felt just about as empty Saturday as it did during Thursday’s annual passholder preview.
“I can definitely get used to just literally walking on to Peter Pan without having any wait at all. Normally, that’s something that you’d wait an hour or so if you didn’t have a fast pass,” said Kubersky.
“But at the same time, it’s not the same Park experience because it’s just not as social. As someone who’s used to coming into the parks as a solo traveler, used to striking up conversations with strangers in the queue and chatting with people walking through the streets and people don’t do that, people are staying in their own bubbles.”
Stephanie Bailey, an annual passholder from Mississippi, was also enjoying the “new normal” at the Magic Kingdom Saturday.
“It’s kind of old school Disney, like not having to worry about Fastpass or three-hour lines,” said Bailey.
“Just walk around, if you see something you want to get in line for, get in line for it. And I like that aspect.”
Serena Lynn, a blogger who runs the vacation website Living By Disney was hesitant about going on Saturday after four months of staying home.
“I think everybody’s got to decide what they’re comfortable with,” said Lynn.
“But I think if you’re comfortable with going to the grocery store, or to Target or any of those types of things, it’s no different. They definitely kept you as safe as possible and made you feel like, you know, you weren’t taking undue risks.”
She said the experience at the park was both strange- and familiar.
“We’re in a place where for many people, they’re craving that escape or that Disney magic, more than ever, to get a little bit of that, I think really means more to people, even if it is a modified experience.”
Epcot and Hollywood Studios are set to open on Wednesday.
A Leon County judge says the county’s mandatory mask policy can stand. It imposes civil penalties on people who don’t wear face coverings in enclosed spaces like businesses. County GOP Chairman Evan Power filed the lawsuit saying the ordinance is too vague. Power is represented by state Republican Representative Anthony Sabatini who claimed the ordinance amounts to government overreach.
“There’s twice as many people dying last year of hernias than this year of COVID. Why there hasn’t been an enormous emergency call to this hernia crisis… I’m not sure why that’s not happened yet,” Sabatini said in his closing remarks.
“Well, the good news Mr. Sabatini, at least as far as I last checked, is that hernias aren’t contagious,” said Circuit Judge John Cooper.
In his ruling, delivered verbally, Cooper noted the increase in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths from the coronavirus. He said had the Leon County Commission not passed the ordinance, it could have been charged with being irresponsible.
“It’s clearly a proper abuse of government’s police power to protect the public,” said Cooper, noting the county’s decision is supported by science, given numerous scientists and the Centers for Disease Control pointing to mask use as a transmission mitigation strategy.
Cooper, along with attorneys for the county, also pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Jacobson vs. Massachusetts in 1905 which upheld the government’s power to impose vaccination mandates.
“Your freedom stops when you’re making decisions that harm others,” said Drew Parker, an attorney who represented the county.
A new online petition is demanding a way for family members to visit their loved ones in Florida’s long-term care facilities.
The state isn’t allowing any visits during the Covid19 pandemic.
Duval School Board member Lori Hershey has not been able to visit her mother in memory care since mid-March. When she has seen her mom, it’s been through a window.
Her mother has Alzheimer’s disease. Hershey said its time to demand in-person visits. She started the petition that she said will go to Duval delegates and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“I think loved ones are saying ‘we've been patient long enough,’ and now we want to know why there are not guidelines in place for us to be able to visit our loved ones. Because when you have a loved one in an assisted care facility - even those with the best of care - they still need advocates.”
She noted some hospitals are allowing visits after people are screened. As Hershey sees it, the separation is beginning to border on senior neglect.
She understands the coronavirus can kill, but with precautions, she said family members should be allowed to make limited visits.
“Time is ticking, and I'm losing it. She will probably not be here this time next year. And so while it's great to sit outside the window and share a milkshake with her, I would much rather just sit in her presence. Be able to hold her hand, and just sit with her.”
Hershey’s petition has more than 300 signatures so far. Those interested in signing the petition will find it here. Governor Ron DeSantis on July 8th extended visiting restrictions for another 60 days.
Face shields, temperature checks and disposable pens are just some of the safeguards Florida officials plan to employ to combat COVID-19, as they brace for elections in August and November.
Elections supervisors are taking measures to avoid problems that erupted during the March primaries, when they were faced with cancellations of early-voting and Election Day polling sites, last-minute poll-worker absences and limited supplies of hand sanitizer and other disinfectants.
Many are buying no-contact thermometers to check poll workers’ temperatures and planning to set up curbside tents so voters can drop off mail-in ballots without getting out of their cars.
Some have sent out information cards to let voters know if polling sites have changed and asking people to vote by mail this year.
Leon County Supervisor of Elections Mark Earley has worked in the elections industry for more than three decades.
He is asking people to vote before Election Day if they can.
“We are trying to protect your availability to vote. That is something fully beyond my capability to 100% guarantee that in-person voting opportunity, especially on Election Day. We are just trying to make sure you have at least one mechanism to cast that ballot,” Said Earley.
Leon County has seen requests for mail-in ballots double, and Earley calls vote-by-mail an “insurance policy” for voters amid the uncertainty caused by COVID-19.
Voters throughout the state will encounter a variety of protective measures if they decide to cast ballots in person during the August 18th primary elections and November 3rd general election.
Some counties will test the temperatures of poll workers, while others might require temperature checks of voters on Election Day.
Supervisors warn that Floridians who show up in person to cast ballots on Election Day will need to be patient.
