Today at the Editor’s glance: Public school students return to class today for the 2021-22 school year. Teachers have been at it since last week. The Flagler County school district is resuming school as normal, without remote learning, masking requirements, visitation restrictions or social distancing requirements. The Palm Coast City Council meets in workshop at City Hall at 9 a.m. The Financial Services Department will present a resolution to approve the Old Kings Road Special Assessment tax to be transmitted to the Flagler County Tax Collector. The Old Kings Road Special Assessment District was established by Ordinance 2005-10 to to pay for the redirection of Old Kings Road in anticipation of a Walmart that was never built. Property owners along a segment of Old Kings Road have been saddled with the nearly $6 million cost, which was borrowed from the city’s utility fund, and is being repaid over time. Property owners in total will pay $325,500 this year. Walmart’s share: $13,800. Council members will discuss a $160,000 digital survey of city streets, as part of the city’s maintenance program. Council members will hear a presentation on the parks and recreation masterplan–a flashpoint at recent meetings–and discuss their legislative priorities for next year. The full agenda and background materials are available here.
Vaccinations and Covid testing: Given the unprecedented volume of positive Covid-19 cases in our community, the Flagler County Health Department has modified its testing and vaccination schedules for the first and second weeks of August. All testing and vaccination will take place Monday, Aug. 2, and Tuesday, Aug. 3 from 4:00 to 6:30PM at the Flagler County Health Department, 301 Dr. Carter Blvd, Bunnell.
Snyder also shared that the department is prioritizing testing for individuals with COVID symptoms and that testing is by appointment only. Reservations can be made by calling 386-437-7350 ext. 0, weekdays between 8AM and 4:30PM. Since the health department has stopped offering COVID testing for travel, residents requiring this verification will need to coordinate with a Flagler County pharmacy.
The department is prioritizing testing for individuals with Covid symptoms and that testing is by appointment only. Reservations can be made by calling 386-437-7350 ext. 0, weekdays between 8AM and 4:30PM. Since the health department has stopped offering Covid testing for travel, residents requiring this verification will need to coordinate with a Flagler County pharmacy.
The health department will transition to offer testing and vaccinations five afternoons a week starting Monday, August 9, with the potential to add a second location (120 Airport Road, 2nd floor) in the coming weeks. No appointments are necessary for vaccinations. The health department currently offers the Pfizer vaccine, which is approved for adults and children over age 12.
Snyder added, “On July 28, the CDC updated its guidance that even vaccinated people in high risk communities like Flagler County should wear masks indoors. The Delta Variant is highly contagious, which helps to explain why we had 665 positive cases this week compared with 400 a week ago. Please get vaccinated, wear a mask, wash your hands and social distance whenever possible. If you need to get tested and don’t have symptoms, reach out to any pharmacy in the area. This is our shot, Flagler. Stay safe.” For more information about COVID-19 vaccination and testing efforts, please visit https://flhealthcovid19.gov/.
The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
Free For All Fridays With Host David Ayres on WNZF
Scenic A1A Pride Meeting
Blue 24 Forum
Acoustic Jam Circle At The Community Center In The Hammock
Flagler County’s Cold-Weather Shelter Opens
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
It’s Back! Gamble Jam at Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area
For the full calendar, go here.
“It is in order to avoid this constant failing that I have grown accustomed to referring to all the tragedies that have affected my era and my own life by a single, anodyne word, sorrow—sometimes sorrows, plural—to connect this nebulous feeling to individual memories. All my sorrows follow the same path, that of a great hope thwarted, betrayed, distorted, or destroyed. Successive childhood sorrows for the loss of the twin paradises of my mother and my father. Sorrow for all the peoples of the Levant—without exception—all those I am supposed to think of as “other” and all those I am expected to think of as “my own,” who are drowning in a mire and hurling abuse at one another. Recurring sorrows for those Arab societies that, once or twice in a generation, try to take wing, soar for a moment, fall and tumble to earth like hawks with broken wings. Sorrow for the magnanimous ideals that stirred my youth, and which, in my twilight years, have been misused and discredited: universality, the rising curve of history, the harmonious flowering of cultures, the convergence of values, and the equal dignity of all human beings.”
–Amin Maalouf, “Adrift: How Our World Lost Its Way” (2019).
Paula says
“The Flagler County school district is resuming school as normal, without remote learning, masking requirements, visitation restrictions or social distancing requirements.”
We have entered the Twilight Zone.
Cary says
If your kid got the jab then they do not have to worry about anything.
Carol says
My kids are under 12 and can’t get the jab. So are you implying I should be worried? (I am by the way).