Plans by Flagler schools and the Health Department to minimize quarantines through rapid testing were upended by an emergency rule issued by the state on Friday. The rule appears to pre-empt the right of local authorities to use rapid testing for at least four days, and up to seven days, during which individuals must quarantine regardless.
Flagler County Health Department
To the Dismay of Some, and Against Public Health Guidance, It’ll Be School as Usual in Flagler Come Tuesday
The Flagler School Board will not buck the governor’s order against masking requirements, while schools will resume Tuesday under almost entirely normal conditions. But local physicians and the health department chief are concerned that the ongoing covid surge across the county will replicate in the schools.
Flagler Health Department’s Covid Testing and Vaccination
Free Testing and vaccination will be offered five days a week from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Health Department in Bunnell, but plans to start offering rapid testing to school staff and students are in limbo following the state health department’s issuance of a rule Friday that may pre-empt rapid testing at least in the first four days of exposure.
Florida Covid Hospital Rate Tops the Nation, Taking Up 22% of All In-Patient Beds; ICU Occupancy at 86%
As of Monday, 11,863 inpatient beds in Florida were being used by Covid-19 patients, about 22 percent of all inpatient beds in the state, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data show. No other state had as high of a utilization rate. The number of in-patients at AdventHealth Palm Coast on Monday was 80, more than double the January peak.
Flagler Health Department Chief Bob Snyder Reveals He Was a ‘Breakthrough’ Covid Case, But Vaccine Kept Symptoms Mild
Bob Snyder, the Flagler Health Department chief, had managed to make it through a year and a half of the pandemic’s most viral trenches unscathed, even when he was unvaccinated for two-thirds of that time.
Today, Snyder revealed he was among the “breakthrough” cases, contracting the delta variant recently despite his January vaccination. The infection barely sidelined him.
Covid Breaks Flagler Infection Records Daily, Filling Half Advent’s Beds; Community and Local Governments Are Indifferent
While the Flagler Health Department and AdventHealth Palm Coast are overrun with Covid cases and in-patients, local governments have gone silent, indifferent to the worst wave of the pandemic yet, making a mockery of their claim of a “partnership” with the Health Department or the hospital and amplifying community apathy that multiplies infections.
Here’s Why You Need to Mask Up Again Indoors, Even If Vaccinated
Vaccinated people need to mask up again, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On July 27, 2021, the CDC recommended that everyone in areas with high Covid-19 infection rates wear masks in public indoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status. A physician who specializes in infectious diseases explains.
In Shift, Flagler Schools Embrace Rapid Covid Tests for Students and Staff as Back-to-School Protocols Are Released
The Health Department revealed the free, off-campus rapid-testing option for students and staff today as the district itself published its new, 2021-22 school covid protocols, a four-page guide updating last year’s safety procedures. In contrast with conditions in the community, the protocols reflect a pronounced push for normalcy, as if Covid were no longer a serious problem.
Record Covid Surge in Flagler and at Hospital as Variant Slams Unvaccinated, Cleaving Community in 2 Camps
Palm Coast hospitalizations for covid broke a record Tuesday, with 32 people hospitalized (six in intensive care), and broke the record again yesterday, with 37, all among the unvaccinated, while Flagler County is recording an average of 52 new infections a day, with schools reopening in three weeks.
Most Covid Deaths in England Now Are in the Vaccinated. Here’s Why That Shouldn’t Alarm You
The fact that more vaccinated people are dying than unvaccinated people does nothing to undermine vaccine safety or effectiveness. In fact, it’s exactly what we’d expect from the excellent vaccines, which have already saved tens of thousands of lives.