Gov. Ron DeSantis called Thursday for a special legislative session next month to erect roadblocks against Covid-19 vaccination mandates being advanced by the White House. Democrats criticized DeSantis over his call for a special session, noting that the state’s economic rebound was bolstered by companies such as Disney, which is requiring employees to be vaccinated. Democrats also described DeSantis’ requested legislation as “anti-business.”
Health & Society
Dr. Stephen Bickel, Flagler Health Department’s Medical Director, Renews Specialist Designation
Dr. Stephen Bickel, medical director of the Florida Department of Health in Flagler County (DOH-Flagler) recently renewed his “HIV Specialist” credentials by passing an exam sponsored by the American Academy of HIV Medicine. Dr. Bickel received his initial HIV specialist designation in 2018.
MedNexus in Palm Coast: ‘It’s Really About 6 Hands,’ Szymanski Says of Medical-Education Hub in Town Center
David Szymanski, the CEO of the University of Florida’s MedNexus–the emerging medical education innovator with a foothold in Palm Coast–was the keynote speaker at Flagler Tiger Bay’s monthly lunch series today, outlining what Palm Coast can expect of the initiative in Town Center.
6 School Boards’ Challenge to State Ban on Mask Mandates Goes Forward
The decision by Judge Brian Newman came a day before a hearing is scheduled to start in the challenge filed by the school boards in Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, Duval, Alachua and Leon counties.
In a Shift, DeSantis Downplays Promotion of Covid Vaccines
DeSantis has appeared to undermine confidence in vaccines, not least by elevating Joseph Ladapo — who has been openly skeptical of the federal public health response to the virus — to the office of surgeon general, running the Florida Department of Health.
When Students Attack Teachers
Interviews with 50 teachers from urban and suburban high schools who were threatened or attacked by a student suggest that in light of the constant threat of violence against schoolteachers, the adequacy of current security measures – or lack thereof – are ripe for review.
Florida Republicans Want to Put Ban on Mask Mandates in State Law
The proposal (SB 452), filed by Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, also would bar cities and counties from requiring people to wear masks or undergo medical procedures or treatments. It came a day after the Florida Department of Health announced it had imposed a $3.57 million fine on Leon County for requiring government employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Leon County Judge Refuses to Block Florida Law Banning Vaccine Passports
The ruling by Circuit Judge Layne Smith was a victory for Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has led efforts to prevent businesses from requiring customers to show proof they are vaccinated against Covid-19 — an issue that has become known as requiring vaccine passports.
Flagler’s 1st Domestic Violence Conference Confronts Myths and Silences Often Complicit With Abusers
Panels at the conference, called Rise Up 2021, was organized by Daytona State College and the Flagler County Domestic Violence Task Force, delved into religious organizations’ silence toward or complicit enabling of domestic violence, the mechanics of stalking, trauma on children and other prevalent but rarely discussed fallout from a widespread problem.
Florida Led the Nation in Nursing Home Deaths Between August and September
Florida led the nation in the rate of Covid-19 nursing-home deaths during a four-week period that ended Sept. 19, according to a report published Thursday by the senior-advocacy group AARP. The report, which relies on federal data, said Florida nursing homes reported 289 resident deaths from Covid-19 during the period.
Covid’s Impact on Students’ Mental Health Termed ‘Widespread and Deeply Concerning’
The turbulent and stressful Covid-19 crisis has impacted mental health issues, including instances of suicidal thoughts among students who have had to deal with the trauma of trying to learn during the pandemic.
Flagler Health Department Chief Tells Cities and County: Decision to Hold Events Is Yours, Not Health Department’s
The Flagler County Health Department is making it clear to local city and county governments: the department is no longer in the business of telling them whether to hold events or not. That goes for the Christmas parade in Flagler Beach. That was true of the Creekside Festival last weekend. That goes for events at the Flagler Auditorium and anywhere else.
On Refugees, Joe Biden Should Emulate Canada: Go Big
The capacity of private American citizens to resettle refugees is large and untapped. It may even bridge the divide over immigration in the United States. Now is the time for Biden to ask the American people to invite homeless and war-ravaged Afghan refugees into their homes and their communities.
We’re Finally Decreasing Child Poverty. Let’s Not Blow It.
Expanded Child Tax Credit payments led to “a notable drop in child poverty” after just the first month. The U.S. Census Bureau also found that after just one month, food insecurity among vulnerable families dropped significantly, and families receiving checks also had less difficulty paying for weekly expenses.
4 Months Late, Last in Nation, Florida Submits Plan to Feds on How It’ll Spend $2.3 Billion in School Covid Relief Funds
Back in March, the Biden administration announced that $122 billion dollars nationwide was available for schools from the American Rescue Plan act, with two thirds of the money immediately available to states and the remaining third contingent on the U.S. Department of Education’s approval of a state plan indicating how the funds will be used.
We’re Losing Our Humanity: Cruelty and Hostility From School Boards to Vaccination Centers
It’s not just Flagler County, and certainly not just at the Flagler school board: The stories of cruel, seemingly irrational and sometimes-violent conflicts over coronavirus regulations across the country have become lingering symptoms of the pandemic as it drags through its second year.
How Facebook’s ‘Dangerous’ Algorithms Can Manipulate You
Social media platforms rely heavily on people’s behavior to decide on the content that you see. In particular, they watch for content that people respond to or “engage” with by liking, commenting and sharing. Troll farms, organizations that spread provocative content, exploit this by copying high-engagement content and posting it as their own, which helps them reach a wide audience.
Judge Hears Private Business’ Challenge to DeSantis Ban on Covid Passports
Circuit Judge Layne Smith is considering the case two months after a federal judge in South Florida sided with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings in a challenge to the law, which seeks to prevent businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination against covid and threatens fines for violations.
49-Year-Old Bunnell Man in Mental Crisis Decapitates Family Parrot of 48 Years and Faces Animal Cruelty Charge
A 49-year-old Bunnell man with a recent history of mental disabilities faces a felony charge of animal cruelty after killing a parrot that had been in his family for 48 years, and threatening to do harm to other pets and family members in the household.
Worker Shortage Puts Florida Group Homes in ‘Survival Mode’
For some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens who receive around-the-clock care in residential facilities, the competition for workers is having dire consequences.
The Dishonesties of Cherry-Picking Bible Verses
Many Bible verses are being lifted out of context and repurposed to buttress the anti-vaccine movement. Such shallow reading in service of political and cultural agendas has long been a fixture of evangelical Christianity.
Casey DeSantis Is Diagnosed with Breast Cancer
The governor issued a statement Monday about the diagnosis, though the statement did not provide details about issues such as the type of breast cancer, the stage or treatment. Casey DeSantis, 41, is the mother of three children under age 5.
Covid Is Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of Urbanites
Rural Americans are dying of covid at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts — a divide that health experts say is likely to widen as access to medical care shrinks for a population that tends to be older, sicker, heavier, poorer and less vaccinated.
Sex Trafficking Isn’t What You Think: 4 Myths Debunked
Law enforcement, medical providers, case managers, victim advocates and immigration lawyers inconsistently define and apply the label “trafficking victim” – especially when it comes to sex trafficking. That makes it harder for these professionals to get trafficked people the help they request.
“Don’t Texas My Florida!” Protesters Mobilize for Women and LGBT Rights Across U.S.
The marches and rallies were scheduled in cities and communities across Florida and states elsewhere on Saturday, part of a “Day of Action” nationwide as tensions rise over the threat to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
Federal Judge Refuses to Reconsider Decision Backing DeSantis Ban on Mask Mandates
Rejecting arguments by parents of children with disabilities, a federal judge has refused to reconsider a decision that backed Gov. Ron DeSantis in a battle about student mask requirements in schools.
Pot Products Are Being Sold as Sleeping Aids. Do They Help?
As with many issues in research, there isn’t a neat answer to how effective cannabis is in improving sleep. How the drug is prepared, the way it’s taken and the person’s expectations are just some important factors that may influence the outcome. And, as with all health products, there is a risk of side-effects.
‘Thrifty Food Plan’ Update Enables Long-Overdue Food Stamps Benefit Increase
An unprecedented update of the Thrifty Food Plan – an estimate of the minimum cost of groceries to meet a family’s needs–is behind the largest-ever permanent increase in benefits and puts a healthier diet within reach for the 42 million Americans enrolled in SNAP, which replaced food stamps.
Makenna’s Story: 9-Year-Old Palm Coast Student’s Covid Hospitalization Upends Glib Assumptions
Makenna’s story illustrates the pernicious tenacity of a disease that upends, separates and traumatizes families, cuts off income, creates unspeakable loneliness even for those not hospitalized, and leaves its casualties fuming at a community’s refusal to embrace–beyond thoughts and prayers–the small, effortless measures that could prevent much of the harm to most.
The Sharpest Murder Spike in 61 Years of Record-Keeping: What Happened?
Homicides in the U.S. spiked by almost 30% in 2020. The fact that big cities, small cities, suburbs and rural areas – in both blue and red states – experienced similar increases in homicides suggests that nationwide events or trends were behind the rise. what happened in 2020 was a confluence of events that created the perfect conditions for a spike in murders.
New Laws: Florida’s Minimum Wage Goes to $10 an Hour, Vaping Minimum Age Rises to 21, DNA Regulations
Minimum wage workers in Florida will get a voter-approved pay boost this week as the state’s wage makes its way to the $15 minimum by 2026, and about two-dozen new laws kick in, including a regulatory framework for electronic cigarettes and DNA sample privacy.
Richard Dunn, Who Killed His Father in 2006, Back in Jail as ‘Bizarre’ Behavior Raises Concerns of More Violence
Richard Dunn, 60, was found not guilty by reason of insanity following the 2006 killing of his 87-year-old father, the famed Dr. Jack Dunn, in Palm Coast. Dunn had been inching his way back to full freedom without court supervision–until a series of weird and at times disturbing behavior in the last few months, including a probation violation, put a pause on all possibilities of full freedom.
How Some Schools Use Weekly Testing to Keep Kids in Class And Covid Out
These measures stand in sharp contrast to the confusion in states, including Florida, where people are still fighting about wearing masks in the classroom and other anti-covid strategies, places where some schools have experienced outbreaks and even teacher deaths.
Alien Future: How Warming Climate May Create an Unrecognizable World
A team of scientists’ climate projections for 2500 show an Earth that is alien to humans. Heat stress may reach fatal levels for humans in tropical regions which are currently highly populated. Such areas might become uninhabitable. Even under high-mitigation scenarios, we found that sea level keeps rising due to expanding and mixing water in warming oceans.
Florida Department of Health Argues for Suppressing Covid Data in Public Records Lawsuit
The Florida Department of Health is trying to scuttle a public-records lawsuit seeking information about Covid-19, arguing that requested reports don’t exist and that the underlying data is confidential.
Hunger in 2020 Sharply Affected Even Middle-Class Americans
Americans in households with annual incomes from $50,000 to $75,000 experienced the sharpest increase in food insufficiency when the COVID-19 pandemic began – meaning that many people in the middle class didn’t have enough to eat at some point within the previous seven days.
Charlie Crist Denounces New Covid School Policy and Seeks Ouster of New Surgeon General
Democrat Charlie Crist denounced Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday as an “oppressive tyrant” willing to send coronavirus-infected children into the public schools and risk the health of other children to please his covid-skeptical political base.
‘We’re Running Out of People’: Flagler’s Covid Case Load Drops Sharply, But Vaccinations Also Plummet
Flagler County recorded just over 200 covid cases in the week ending today, the lowest total since early summer, but vaccinations have plummeted to a new low since after the initial rollouts. While school cases have also dropped, the Flagler school district is struggling through significant teacher and other staffing shortages.
Palm Coast’s Brittany Myers, a NICU Nurse, Arrested for Aggravated Child Abuse; 4 Children Describe Chronic Beatings
Brittany Myers, a 38-year-old mother of five and a nurse at an AdventHealth newborn intensive care unit, was arrested on a charge of aggravated child abuse after her 16-year-old daughter took video of her mother brutalizing her 14-year-old brother on Tuesday evening at their P-Section home in Palm Coast.
Alachua School Board Gets $150,000 Federal Grant to Cover Salaries DeSantis Cut Over Mask Fight
State Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced Aug. 30 that the Florida Department of Education had started to withhold funds from the Alachua and Broward County school districts in amounts equal to the monthly salaries of school board members who voted for student mask requirements.
Stop Yelling. Have a Point: Advice for School Board Meeting Disrupters from Someone Who’s Been There.
In the wake of two turbulent school board meetings, Randall Bertrand was left wondering what all the sound and fury was about since many speakers’ loud and disruptive message was already made moot by school board votes or state policy.
Evidence Shows That, Yes, Masks Prevent Covid, and Surgical Masks Are the Way To Go
The largest randomized controlled trial to date testing the effectiveness of mask-wearing provides gold-standard evidence that confirms previous research: Wearing masks, particularly surgical masks, prevents covid-19.
Two Child Care Centers in Flagler Report Outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease
The Florida Department of Health in Flagler County has received reports of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in two childcare centers in the community. The Health Department is not disclosing the names of the two child care centers, nor it clear for now whether they are large centers or home-based centers with a limited number of children.
Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s New Surgeon General, Signals Sharp Turn Away from CDC’s Covid Guidance
Florida’s new surgeon general is Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a UCLA heart specialist who has fully embraced Gov. Ron DeSantis’ approach to the covid-19 pandemic, which favors natural infections as a means of combating the pandemic and minimal state interference with parental discretion over masking, quarantining and vaccines.
Quarantining for Asymptomatic Students Is Now Optional as Florida Issues New Rules Further Limiting Safety Measures
Pointing to a need to “minimize the amount of time students are removed from in-person learning,” the Florida Department of Health on Wednesday issued a revised rule that gives parents more authority to decide whether children go to school after being exposed to people who have covid-19. The new rule replicates the same standard in effect for masking: it’s permissible, but only at parents’ discretion.
Anti-Maskers Turn Another Flagler School Board Meeting Into Virulent, at Times Bigoted and Threatening Spectacle
Even though there was no chance of a mask mandate, the Flagler County School Board meeting Tuesday evening again devolved into an ugly spectacle of anti-mask militancy that at times turned threatening, homophobic, Islamophobic and covid-denying, and required the meeting again to be briefly recessed and board members sent to a safe room.
New Treatments Staving Off the Worst of Covid
For hospitalized covid-19 patients, these new treatments, along with supportive care advances – such as placing some patients on their stomachs in a “prone position” – were helping bring down mortality rates before the Delta variant hit and are continuing to improve patient outcomes today.
Replacing David Ottati, Audrey Gregory Is Named President and CEO for AdventHealth’s Central Florida Division, North Region
Audrey Gregory, PhD, has been named president/CEO for AdventHealth’s Central Florida Division – North Region, which includes the AdventHealth facilities in Volusia, Lake and Flagler counties. Gregory replaces David Ottai, a former CEO of AdventHealth Palm Coast, who was named CEO of AdventHealth’s West Florida division.
Covid Numbers Fall Across the Board in Flagler and Florida, Now Matching Winter Peak; Experts Stress Continued Caution
The covid numbers are falling across the board: in the community, in schools, in hospitals locally and across Central Florida, but with a caveat: the numbers today, while falling, are at the exact point where they were at the height of the winter wave–the third and until then most severe wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
I Got a ‘Mild’ Breakthrough Case. Here’s What I Wish I’d Known.
The vaccines aren’t a force field that wards off all things covid. The rise of delta has changed the odds of having a breakthrough infection. Best advice: Wear masks, stay away from big gatherings with unvaccinated people and cut down on travel, at least until things calm down.