The fourth and gravest wave of the Covid pandemic has crested in Flagler County, with case loads in schools, at the hospital and in the community falling sharply, but at a heavy price: deaths from Covid-19 in Flagler have reached 201, according to the Centers for Disease Control (207, according to the Flagler Health Department). That’s up from 114 in June.
To date, Robert Snyder, who heads the Flagler County Health Department, he has not gotten the report of a death of a patient who had been vaccinated, a fact that underscores the extent to which the fourth wave was the pandemic of the unvaccinated.
“When we look at the data starting from January on since the vaccination started,” Wally de Aquino, the chief operating officer at AdventHealth Palm Coast said this morning on WNZF, “about 90 percent, 91 percent of our patients that have been hospitalized here, they were not vaccinated.”
Snyder specified that those with breakthrough infections–infections despite vaccination–who were hospitalized did not face critical illness. “These are individuals who do not have a severe form of Covid but more of a mild to moderate form that did result in them seeking hospital care,” Snyder said, “because of the respiratory issues associated with their disease. And then the remaining patients were unvaccinated.” Vaccination, he said, remains “the sure way to prevent death, and severe disease, and an ICU stay in the hospital.”
Deaths trend behind other indicators. So as long as all those other indicators continue to decline as sharply as they have, the number of fatalities will also be declining in proportion.
According to the Health Department’s weekly report issued this morning, Flagler County registered 483 confirmed cases of Covid in the week ending today, down from 789 the previous week, and 936 the week before that.
In schools, there were 27 confirmed infections reported on Thursday, none among employees, for a total of 1,017 infections so far this school year. The past seven days have totaled 183 infections, compared with 329 infections in the previous seven days. The decline in cases is likely to diminish pressure on the school board to enact a mask mandate–and likewise diminish tensions that the masking debate has wrought on the district even as lawsuit challenging Gov. Ron DeSantis’s executive order banning mask mandates continues to wend its way through the justice system. A Leon County ruled the order illegal. The DeSantis administration immediately appealed, resulting in a stay of the decision. On Wednesday, the judge lifted the stay, making mandates legal again.
But speaking in Palm Coast that day, DeSantis said he was confident he would win on appeal, suggesting that his administration is running out the clock: by then, the fourth wave’s effects locally and across Florida may well be significantly diminished, making the decisions moot. The lifting of the stay is already on appeal at the 1st District Court of Appeal.
At AdventHealth Palm Coast, “we’re experiencing a lot of discharges from our Covid patients and less of an influx,” de Aquino said. Hospitalizations on a primary diagnosis of Covid had fallen to 57 by Wednesday, down almost by half two weeks ago, when the hospital, along with all AdventHealth hospitals in Central Florida, were on so-called “black status,” with certain surgeries and procedures restricted so the staff could focus on Covid response.
Flagler Health+’s Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine reports similar declines, with 46 patients admitted with Covid-19 as of today, 75 percent of whom are unvaccinated. Eleven patients are in the hospital’s ICU, seven on ventilators. In comparison, three weeks ago the hospital had 98 in-patients with a Covid diagnosis, 78 percent of them unvaccinated, with 23 in the ICU and 18 on ventilators, according to Flagler Health+’s Erin Wallner.
One of those hospitalized at AdventHealth Palm Coast recently was Charles Silano, the pastor and head of Flagler’s Grace Community Food Pantry. He was hospitalized for six days. “It was pretty rough I wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” he said on Free For All this morning. “And what hospital we have right here at Advent Flagler and I have to tell you, I’ve been thinking in my heart–what can I do for these people, maybe I’ll send like 50 pizzas over there. I don’t really know what to do. So this is a great opportunity to give them a shout out.”
As of Thursday morning, there were 1,120 Covid patients in AdventHealth’s Central Florida division, down from a peak of 1,700. “We’ve effectively dropped about 30 to 40 percent,” said Dr. Sanjay Pattani, associate chief medical officer of AdventHealth Orlando and executive medical director of the health care system’s Mission Control. He spoke during AdventHealth’s weekly briefing. “We’re on the backend of the peak.”
The network went from black to red to yellow status in the past few days. “What that means and translates to is basically we escalate and de escalate so we are now de escalating,” Pattani said. “Now we’re seeing our ability to free up resources that we had to mobilize initially to go back to taking care of patients in other directions. So we are now resuming operations as far as outpatient surgeries, we’re slowly trickling back into the inpatient elective businesses while they’re not time sensitive.”
On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis was at Daytona State College’s Palm Coast campus to announce the opening of the federally-funded monoclonal therapy treatment center, now open seven days a week and providing free treatment to walk-ins.
Snyder was not at the opening–he has been recovering from a medical condition unrelated to Covid, though he had a breakthrough infection weeks ago, and took the monoclonal treatment at AdventHealth. “We are very, very pleased that monoclonal antibody site has been developed or operational now in our community for people who test positive for Covid,” Snyder said in an interview. “Especially those who are symptomatic. The monoclonal antibody treatment is very effective in reducing symptoms quickly. In my case, you know, within 72 hours. However, I want to make the point that in no way does this treatment substitute or replace vaccinations, that the only way to prevent the Covid-19 is through our vaccination efforts, and through getting vaccinated. So, no way is that a replacement, is the Regeneron monoclonal antibody treatment a replacement for vaccinations. It is just a treatment. A very effective treatment. The only way to stop this suffering and disease and hospitalizations and breakthrough cases is through vaccination.”
In the past few weeks Flagler County Administrator Heidi Petito and the county’s marketing media manager, Lacy Martin, coordinated a cross-county, cross-city campaign to broaden and present a unified covid-safety message. Martin collected every city manager or mayor in the county, along with police and fire chiefs and a school board member, for a two-minute video. “We’re all on board and ready to roll,” says William Whitson, the Flagler Beach city manager.
“We’re in this together Flagler County, Thank you all for coming to help,” Petito tells her colleagues in zoomland, with Jorge Salinas, the deputy county manager, at her side. “Together we can protect our friends, family and neighbors. And together, we can put this behind us. For good,” Salinas says. Every frame then shows the officials giving the thumbs up.
Snyder then appears with the central message: “It is so very important to remember that we are indeed in this together Flagler County. The Covid virus doesn’t discriminate by age, gender or personal belief, it attacks indiscriminately. And it’s for that very reason that we must come together as a united front to put this behind us for good. If you haven’t already done so, please consider getting vaccinated, not just for yourself, but for your community.”
Petito had been speaking about mental health initiatives with Snyder when she asked him what the county could do “to help strengthen our messaging for Covid response to the community,” Petito said in an interview last week, after she appeared in a segment of the filming of the AdventHealth Palm Coast groundbreaking on Palm Coast Parkway. “Really it’s just trying to get the message out as a community that you know we are all in it together,” Petito said. “It’s not just the significance of Covid itself but I think that we as a community are in a good place when we’re all together.”
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Hmmmm.... says
I know some are choosing to self test now so not sure case rate reported by the health department will be entirely accurate. Certainly not unless positive cases are reported.
TheTruth says
DeSantis became Governor of Florida that is what his job is not getting involved with the scientific facts about this virus. His ratings are going down each and everyday for his handling of this virus in the state he took and oath of office to serve and protect. He is not living up to that promise, no wonder his ratings are going down.
As you can see from this report from the Director of Flagler County Health Department and the Official from Advent Hospital, those that aren’t vaccinated are they ones being admitted to the hospital.
Donald Trump from the get go made this virus a political one and that was one of the many reasons he did not get re-elected. And now DeSantis is following in his shoes. Bad move.
This virus would not be where it is all around the country if people would be responsible and stop with this political crap Trump started. Those refusing to get the virus doesn’t make you a tough guy it makes you look like an absolute fool who does not take their own lives or others seriously enough. If this virus gets worse and their companies, their stores and their schools start shutting down again, they can only blame themselves with just reason. They are the super spreaders.
Justsayin says
Trump has never said not to take the vaccine. YOUR VP did during the debate
A.j says
Agree, people believe these crazy people that do not have any knowledge of medicine. Even Fox News says all their employees should be vaccinated. A lot of Trunp Puppets are dead listening to him and his lies, Trump is still alive. He was vaccinated. I am sure he did not have to wait in line or make an appointment. People need to think for themselves. DeSantis is a Trump Puppet also. If we voted Trump out of office surely we can vote DeSantis put of office. Will we?
Sherry says
Excellent comment “The Truth”. . . you are absolutely correct in you assessment!
If the vast majority of the FOX/trump cult members had stepped up and gotten vaccinated in a timely fashion, we would have much more safely reached herd immunity by now. They have a multitude of pain and suffering, and even deaths on their hands. . . including little children. . . completely selfish,stupid and shameful!
Steve says
What statistic is being used to say “Trumpers” are not vaccinated? My entire family and all I know are, and have been. What is being said by conservatives is that Fauci is a moron who has caused so much misinformation and confusion that many Americans (all political parties) do not trust the information. Biden and Harris, during the campaign questioned the vaccine production speed and trustworthiness of the vaccine. This carried over. Statistically African Americans are primarily democrats, yet they have the lowest rate of vaccination. This “US vs Them” mentality is what is and has been destroying the US.
Just this week Fauci stated that if you’ve had the virus, you have natural immunity. Millions have chosen to not get the vaccine after they recovered from the vaccine for that very reason. No evidence to show you are any better protected with vaccine and natural immunity.
If the vaccine is as effective as they claimed (it’s not), then why worry yourself with who has/hadn’t had the vaccine? Those who have natural immunity though opt not to get the vaccine, they now risk losing a job, can’t fly domestically, in some states cannot eat at a diner? No way will federal mandates be held as constitutional.
If Biden was really worried about the virus (he’s not, it’s political cover for his screw up in Afghanistan, his sons criminal behavior, his trillion dollars of waste, his own mental health decline), then why not mandate those crossing the border illegally? Why specially carve out exceptions for members of congress and staff? Why carve out exemptions for US Postal Workers? You’re all being played by “journalists” pushing an agenda, hiding facts and quite frankly lying to you.
Can't help but wonder says
We are reading about what IS known…but what about the UNKNOWN? How many of these patients who were hospitalized recovered from COVID and we’re discharged versus the ones who died? How many people got sick with COVID and weren’t tested (partially, or fully vaccinated, or not at all), but stayed at home to tough it out until they recovered. There are no statistics on these cases, as many were never reported to schools, health department, etc. No wonder many people remained confused, distrustful, and unsure of what to do.
Sherry says
@ Justsayin. . . Please just STOP with the lame deception and half truths! Here is what Vice President Harris actually said. . . and she was absolutely right, trust the medical professionals:
Sen. Kamala Harris of California said during Wednesday night’s vice presidential debate with Vice President Mike Pence that she does not trust the administration’s push to rush a coronavirus vaccine into production.
“If the public health professionals, if Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, if the doctors tell us that we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it. Absolutely,” Harris said during the live debate in Salt Lake City, when she was asked if Americans should take a vaccine, if the Trump administration were to approve one either before or after the election. “But if Donald Trump tells us that we should take it. I’m not taking it.”
Justsayin says
Warning/correction: the commenter below is citing a much-quoted, and poorly quoted, New York magazine article that itself grossly mischaracterizes the evidence. Nowhere in the CDC analysis referred to is masking in school considered to have a negligible effect. The first segment of the original analysis, not the poorly presented NYM piece, sums it up: “ COVID-19 incidence was 37% lower in schools that required teachers and staff members to use masks and 39% lower in schools that improved ventilation. Ventilation strategies associated with lower school incidence included dilution methods alone (35% lower incidence) or in combination with filtration methods (48% lower incidence).” we have not fact-checked the remaining claims. As always, please do not use this site to spread misinformation.—-FL
Your last sentence just repeated what I said. I’m sure you insured there were no half truths when Trump spoke about the Charlottesville VA incident. Or all the names of people who claimed Trump called our soldiers losers and suckers was made public.
But your response did make me think about the medical professionals and companies you speak of. Pfizer – BioNTech requested emergency approval only 11 days after the election was called. https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-submit-emergency-use-authorization Lets look how much Pfizer gave democrat’s for the 2020 cycle. Joe Biden was the big winner.https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/pfizer-inc/summary?id=D000000138
With regarded to your other post with Steve, here is some facts that will disprove your poll. (Really, a poll, why not just use Wikipedia) The fact is blacks have a lower vaccination rate than whites. Last time I checked, There was not a lot of black Trump supporters.https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-demographics-trends As more liberals demand denying health care to the unvaccinated, lets see who would be affected the most. Surprise, the black and brown population would be the loser again. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-race-ethnicity.html
Lets look at the information for natural immunity in an Israel study. And the winner is? https://www.science.org/content/article/having-sars-cov-2-once-confers-much-greater-immunity-vaccine-vaccination-remains-vital
One last thing for you and Ray W about masking kids in school. The first paragraph says it all. And yes, it is from the 4th branch of government, the CDC https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/the-science-of-masking-kids-at-school-remains-uncertain.html
Ray W. says
I previously posted a limited explanation of the prosecution of Mitchell Westerheide. Westerheide was identified by FBI profilers from the beginning of his prosecution as a possible sexual sadist in the psychiatric definition of the term. At the time, the FBI literature provided to me detailed the identification of only 55 sexual sadists, with 30 of that number moving on to murder. A significant percentage of the 30 had engaged in serial killings. All 55 had reached the diagnostic boundary of sexual sadism after they had reached 40 years of age. Westerheide was only 19 at the time of his arrest.
At his plea hearing, after the trial judge accepted his plea, I overheard Westerheide tell his defense attorney he wanted to prove he was normal; he then said he wanted to be evaluated prior to his sentencing. Of all things to overhear, the idea that Westerheide could actually think he was normal, and that he wanted the opportunity to prove it, astounded me.
The 10 seconds or so of lead time between Westerheide asking his attorney and the attorney asking the court allowed me to formulate a response. When his attorney asked the judge to delay sentencing so he could have Westerheide evaluated, I agreed. I then argued that now that Westerheide had entered a plea, the judge had the right to select the evaluator. I asked permission to submit a name alongside that submitted by the defense attorney, with the judge selecting the most qualified evaluator. The judge agreed. I submitted the name of the psychologist who set up Florida’s DOC sexual offender treatment program for inmates imprisoned for sex offenses. The defense attorney left the public defender’s office before submitting a name. The evaluation came back that Westerheide was a sexual sadist who would likely expand into murder.
The new assistant public defender ably challenged the report because the evaluator detailed the fact that he had consulted in the initial investigation prior to Westerheide’s arrest, which was not in any of the VCSO reports. The judge agreed and tossed the report. Before the judge recused himself, he asked for submissions of new names.
The second assistant public defender transferred to a new docket and failed to submit a name. My new evaluator was selected by the new judge. After extensively evaluating Westerheide and reviewing the substantial materials provided the the FBI profiler assigned to the case he, too, concluded that Westerheide was a sexual sadist who would likely expand into murder.
Westerheide’s third assistant public defender handled the sentencing. After Westerheide’s parents accused me of improperly focusing on their family (a misdemeanor assistant state attorney assigned to the office I supervised was prosecuting Westerheide’s younger brother who had been arrested – finally – after a multi-agency effort to catch a teenage bicyclist who had a penchant for riding up to different convenience stores staffed by women during early morning hours, at which time he would prance at the doorway completely nude before racing off on his bicycle), I presented documentation provided by the FBI profiler, called the evaluator to testify, called an FDLE sexual offender profiler to testify, and introduced certain passages from Westerheide’s journal to the court, including a passage written at age 16 that if he could make 10 good men bleed to death, his life would be complete.
At my request, the sentencing judge found that Westerheide was a sexual sadist in the psychiatric definition of the term and entered a specific order requiring Westerheide to submit to any psychological evaluation approved by either FDLE or the FBI. Refusal would violate terms of his imprisonment or subsequent probationary sentence, to last a total of 25 years. An FBI psychologist immediately flew to Daytona to interview Westerheide at the county jail before he was transported to prison.
After Westerheide was imprisoned, Florida’s legislature passed the civil commitment act. Upon Westerheide’s release from prison, he was immediately subjected to a civil commitment trial, after which he was civilly committed for more than 10 years. Several years ago, the head of the civil commitment program testified that Westerheide had completed every sexual offender treatment program they had to offer. Even though he was still considered by experts to be a sexual sadist, since they had no other treatment options, they had to tell the court that he had to be released. Civil commitment, after all, exists to offer treatment, not just to house sexual offenders. They just couldn’t treat him any more.
I type all this to point out that some people think they are something they truly are not. Westerheide wanted to prove he was normal. In reality, he belonged to a very small class of people who are highly abnormal.
Justsayin appears to actually believe that he knows how to prove a point. He falls significantly short of that mark. He does know how to make a claim, but that is far different from proving a point.
Sherry says
OK Steve. . . Here is the proof you wanted. . . this NBC poll from August indicates that only 46% of Republicans who voted for trump have been vaccinated, while 62% of Republicans who did NOT vote for trump are vaccinated. Meanwhile, Biden voters polled are 91% vaccinated.
There are plenty of other article and polls that say much the same thing. Here is the link:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/nbc-news-poll-shows-demographic-breakdown-vaccinated-u-s-n1277514
Steve , Please post a link to Dr. Fauci saying there is no need to get vaccinated if you had Covid, as “I” have not found that from him “directly”. Also, please post links to credible FACTS for the other claims you are making.
Karen Curry says
Supposedly accurate information reported to CDC by Florida Health Dept. on Monday 9/13/21 shows Flagler County has had 168 deaths. This article has the total at 201 (114 last total published). Will the real number ever be revealed?