After Pulse: Nichole Elinoff

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Advisory: Please note that this post is about the Pulse nightclub massacre on June 12, 2016. It contains sensitive and difficult to read content.

Nichole Elinoff is the sexual minority coordinator at the Florida Department of Health, working in HIV prevention within the GLBT community. At the time of the Pulse Nightclub massacre she served at the GLBT Center as director of clinical services.

The entire state of Florida does not have sex education. Each county handles the subject differently. Central Florida, is 6th in the country for HIV infections. Florida as a whole is number 1 in the country for new HIV cases. All of the top 10 highest HIV infection rates are from counties in the the south. Miami Dade, Florida is Number 1 and Baton Rouge, Louisiana is number 2.

Nichole was in South Florida when the Pulse Nightclub shooting happened. Sunday morning June 16, 2016 at 8am she got a call from the board president of the Center. Since she was asleep, she didn’t immediately pick up. She kept getting calls and texts. The first text she read was “are you OK?” Someone else knew she was in South Florida and said she was safe. On Facebook she saw the black Pulse logo and the rainbow.  She couldn’t believe what she was reading. She called the Center and made arrangements to get back to Orlando.

She drove back to Orlando that day in record time. She went to the Center for the press conference. Her husband brought donuts. The Center was packed with board members, community members. She hugged everyone. The mental health counseling effort was already being coordinated. The HIV testing program had to be shut down that week since there was so much going on.

A dear friend was the lead HIV test counselor that she worked with at the center. She was trying to call him constantly throughout that day. The week before he had been at Latin night at Pulse. She couldn’t reach him.  He finally called back while she was at the Center and she broke down and cried. He wasn’t at Pulse on the night of the massacre.

Monday morning she helped coordinate the media response. She updated the Facebook pages. She looked at the Go Fund Me that the Center created and helped maintain that site. She coordinated her staff of volunteers to bring water to the blood donation sites. Lines of people were standing in the sun and they needed water.

When the Orlando United Assistance Center opened at Camping World Stadium,  she set up a table with two other staff members. They interacted with the families of victims and survivors. They found out what their needs were and they passed out gift cards. She brought gift cards and supplies to her team.

Testing returned to the Center after that first week. It was a challenging couple of months after Pulse. One of her staff decided he needed to go into victim advocacy. He was hired at the Orlando Assistance Center. After he left she needed to do his job as lead tester, as well as her own until she could find someone to fill his position. She organized some training with the Red Cross for her volunteer staff to talk about dealing with grief, and how to look for trauma.

People they were testing mentioned that they were taking more chances like sex without condoms, more drinking and more substance use because they may have lost friends or someone they knew. They were trying to cope. After a tragedy people tend to take more chances. They want to feel safe and unprotected sex can become a problem.

There was no HIV support group for Spanish speakers so she wrote a grant to help get one started.

Sweep

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The Tampa Bay Times reported that for 105 days in the worst of the pandemic, Florida’s COVID-19 death toll went missing. County death tolls were withheld from the public. Floridians had no idea how many of their neighbors were dying. This is part of Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis’ blue sky policy. If you hide the statistic from the public they can go about their lives in blissful ignorance.

The Florida Department of Health knows how many people are dying in each county, but stopped telling the public on June 4, 2021. That’s when state officials stopped releasing daily pandemic data, switched to weekly reports and started withholding data once available to the public.

The state directed the public to find that information via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But the CDC relied on Florida’s online portal of COVID data — which the state also took down in June 2021. The CDC’s tally of deaths for Florida went blank. The number of people dying in each Florida county went missing from June 4, 2021 through September 17, 2021. This episode that illustrates how governments continue to hinder the public’s understanding of the virus and its toll. What they don’t know can’t kill them, or can it?

The designer of the Florida COVID-19 dashboard, was fired when she refused to cushion the numbers. The dashboard was also scrapped just as the Delta variant began to kill Floridians in large numbers. Florida leaders spent years whittling down the Department of Health, leaving Florida with one of the lowest numbers of epidemiologists per residents in the country.

As of October 18, 2021, the Florida COVID-19 related deaths per 100,000 was 0.79 with an average of 170.3 Floridians dying every day from COVID-19. Only Texas has a higher death toll at an average of 197 people dying every day. Lets just sweep that under the rug.

COVID-19 Deaths Under Counted in Florida

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A study published by The American Journal of Public Health this month says that Florida has under reported its coronavirus deaths by thousands of cases. The report stated that the impact of the pandemic in Florida “is significantly greater than the official COVID-19 data suggest.”

Researchers came to their conclusions by comparing the estimated deaths in the state from March to September and compared that figure to the actual number of recorded deaths, or the “excess deaths.”

Moosa Tatar, public health economist at the University of Utah and lead researcher of the study said, “I am sure that COVID-19 is responsible for most of these excess deaths.” According to Tatar’s study, nearly 5,000 deaths should have been included among the listed COVID-19 fatalities, but were instead attributed to other causes.

In May 2020, Rebekah Jones, a data scientist who helped create the state’s Covid-19 data dashboard, was fired from her role running a COVID-19 dashboard for the Florida Department of Health. Jones claims she was fired after refusing to falsify state Covid-19 data. Jones has harshly criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis‘ handling of the pandemic and filed a whistleblower complaint. She was fired and later her home was raided by police who took all her computer equipment. She has been running her own dashboard to keep track of Florida’s COVId-19 statistics. Her dashboard was back online in a few days when donors helped her get a new computer.

Governor DeathSantis has been less than forthcoming in releasing data to keep the public informed about the pandemic. He has consistently withheld information until media outlets sue the state to get the information released. Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani said, “The governor does have a habit of picking the most positive numbers and ignoring the bad numbers. He hand selects data to fit a narrative rather than acknowledge the reality for people.” She said, “Access to even the basic tools to make decisions doesn’t seem like a priority for the governor.”

An investigation by the South Florida Sun Sentinel published in December found that the DeSantis administration worked to minimize bad news about the pandemic and spread misinformation, with some officials withholding crucial data about the spread of the virus.

According to the CDC, Florida has confirmed more than 33,000 deaths due to COVID-19 and more than 2 million cases of the coronavirus. Some 9.4 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in the state. Florida has the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the country, according to the Johns Hopkins University website that tracks national and international data.

Florida Vaccine Tourism

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Vaccine tourism involves people visiting other states across the country in search of COVID-19 vaccines. “Frustrated by crashing appointment websites, shortages of COVID-19 shots and a patchwork of confusing eligibility rules, people with time and money are heading out of town in pursuit of a potentially lifesaving inoculation.”
Tourists have been visiting Florida, Hawaii, Colorado, New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut, according to Bloomberg.

Vaccine is in short supply across the country. People who have set up appointments are finding their appointments canceled due to the vaccine supply running out. Stated simply there was no plan for this historically huge emergency distribution plan. The Joe Biden administration is hoping they can get the situation under control, but the previous administration kept them in the dark.

My sister in south west Florida worked hard to get her first vaccine shot. It involved dozens of calls and setbacks. when she was waiting for the shot in a line of cars she noticed the car in front of her had a New Jersey license plate. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he doesn’t want out-of-state residents coming to Florida to get their COVID-19 vaccines, which are in limited supply, and is pushing a new restriction on the vaccine distribution. There have been multiple media reports about wealthy residents of other states or other countries flying to Florida to get COVID-19 vaccines. These included real estate developers, attorneys, Hollywood insiders and the mother of an Argentine television personality. There are now only two social classes in America, the vaccinated and the non-vaccinated.

A Florida Department of Health database indicates that 39,214 people who received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida were from out of state, representing 3.5% of the 1,122,405 people receiving a vaccine. Individuals with an out-of-state identification now will be required to provide proof of residency or semi-permanent residency to get a vaccination through the Department of Health in Brevard County. Examples include a utility bill, property tax receipt or lease agreement for Florida property.

January Surge

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January has been hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis. California has been hit hardest, on January 21, 2021 the state recorded 736 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, the highest since the start of the pandemic. Of nearly 36,000 cumulative COVID-19 deaths statewide, more than 10,000 have been reported since New Year’s Eve, including more than 4,500 in L.A. County. The state’s most populous county, which has tallied more than 14,600 deaths, accounts for roughly 41% of California’s cumulative COVID-19 deaths, despite being home to only a quarter of the state’s population.

Florida is also experiencing a Winter Surge. On January 10, 2021 the Florida Department of Health reported 108 more resident deaths linked to COVID-19 on Sunday along with 12,313 new positive cases.

The January 3, 2021 White House COVID-19 Task Force report categorized Florida in full pandemic status for all categories: test positivity and high levels of community transmission in nearly 90% of the counties. Weekly figures of closely monitored pandemic data continue to rise and trend closer in similarity to what was seen statewide during the summer spike, considered to be the height of the pandemic in Florida.

The former administration had literally no plan for distributing the vaccine and hopefully Joe Biden the president elect will treat the ongoing COVID crisis with advice from scientists and experts. He plans to “manage the hell” out of the pandemic. His detailed strategy, pledged a genuine “wartime” effort to expand vaccine distribution, supplies and testing. He mandated masks on federal lands and in inter-state train, bus and air travel. He plans new vaccination sites across the country and to activate pharmacies in every neighborhood. There is hope now that the White House is taking the virus seriously. Dr. Anthony Fauci is almost giddy being able to state facts with no fear of presidential reprisals. “The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence, what the science is — let the science speak, it is somewhat of a liberating feeling,” Fauci said.

Rep. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) said, “In terms of potential deaths and the impact on our economy, the crisis we face from coronavirus is on the scale of a major war, and we must act accordingly. We must begin thinking on a scale comparable to the threat, and make sure that we are protecting working people, low-income people, and the most vulnerable communities, not just giant corporations and Wall Street.

 

More than 9000 Florida Children Infected

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The Daily News reported that more than 9000 Florida school aged children have tested positive for COVID-19 in the two weeks since schools opened. The Florida Department of Health reported 48,730 confirmed COVID-19 cases among children 17 years old or younger in new data released Tuesday. That’s 8,995 more cases than at the previous update, which ended on Aug. 9, 15 days earlier. More than 17,000 of those cases are in children ages 14 to 17, or high-school aged. About 13,000 patients are ages 5-10. More than 600 children have been hospitalized. Since Aug. 9, 2020 another child has also died, bringing the total to eight. The Florida union representing thousands of janitors, bus drivers and other front line workers at Florida schools suggests that schools reconsider opening in the fall.

Rebekah Jones who created The Covid Monitor which tracks cases in schools, reported that, Florida Governor DeSantis’ Department of Health claims that the number of COVID-19 cases in Florida schools is confidential. As she said,  “They publish the age, gender, county, symptom onset data, case date, travel info, and more.. but a count of cases by school- which they published then DELETED!!- is “confidential???” NO. OUR SCHOOLS. OUR KIDS. OUR DATA. DEMAND BETTER FROM YOUR GOV!!”

The Florida Education Association sued Governor Ron DeSantis who insisted that all children must return to school in person regardless of the risks associated with the pandemic. On Tuesday  August 25, 2020 Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson sided with the Florida Education Association and granted a temporary injunction against the state’s order that required brick-and-mortar schools to reopen. The mandate, Dodson wrote in his ruling, “arbitrarily disregards safety.” The state school board has filed an appeal.

On August 21, 2020 CNN reported that the White House officially declared teachers Essential Workers  as part of their efforts to encourage schools around the country to reopen for in-person learning. The guidance for essential workers states that they can continue to work even after exposure to a confirmed case of Covid-19, provided they remain asymptomatic.

On Monday, August 24, 2020 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed the language on its website about who should get a COVID-19 test, a move that has baffled public health officials. “If you have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person with a COVID-19 infection for at least 15 minutes but do not have symptoms, you do not necessarily need a test unless you are a vulnerable individual or your health care provider or State or local public health officials recommend you take one,” the guidelines now read, in contrast to the previous recommendation, which called for testing ALL close case contacts.

CNN broke the news that the decision to change the wording was made not by the CDC, but by top government officials from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and could even reach the White House, where President Donald Trump has made clear he believes the United States is doing too much testing for the COVID-19. The change, made without any rationale or explanation, further erodes the scientific community’s confidence in the CDC. For months, the story has been that more—not less—testing could only help control the world’s worst outbreak of the virus. Politics have infected the pandemic. It is what it is.

Blip

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On July 14, 2020 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that “Florida has a COVID-19 BLIP.” He went on to say that Florida has had “a lot of different blips.” He stressed that “despite increased positivity rates, Florida was not comparable to other hot spots, like New York.”  However Florida has surpassed New York in the number of cases per day. On Friday July 30, 2020, 253 people died from the virus in Florida, a new single-day record for the fourth day in a row.Half of all the reported deaths in Florida happened in July. That is NO BLIP!

A blip is defined as “an unexpected, minor, and typically temporary deviation from a general trend.”  Physicians and nurses however are besieged by the surge of new cases filling the hospitals. Experts and medical staff fear the worst is yet to come.

Florida was one of the first states to relax COVID-19 restrictions and the results are becoming abundantly clear. DeSantis refuses to issue a state wide mandate that would require the use of masks when out in public. On Sunday, July 12, 2020 the Sunshine State recorded 15,300 new cases—more than all of Europe. The number of cases per day have continued to hover around 10,000 per day. Dozens of the state’s intensive-care units are at capacity. Miami has become the new Wuhan.

Memorial Hospital West hospital CEO Leah Carpenter said, “Our ICU capacity is beyond 100 percent.”As of Friday July 10, 2020, At least 52 Florida hospitals had no ICU capacity left at all. Rebekah Jones who created the Florida Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard was fired for not manipulating data to help in the re-opening plans. She said,  “Hospital staff have the hardest job in the world right now, more so than any of us scientists,” she said. “That most hospitals in Florida are at or near capacity frightens me. It should frighten everyone.” She now runs her own COVID-19 Community Dashboard which is meant to more accurately reflect what is actually happening in Florida. In Brevard County patients are being treated in the hallways. Some hospitals that are full are having to send patients to other hospitals.

The Harvard Global Health Institute recommended a number of states, including Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, and South Carolina, institute a mandatory stay-at-home order to curtail severe outbreaks.

Carlos Migoya, president and CEO of Jackson Health System in Miami-Dade, said “You have people who are aggressively saying they don’t have to wear a mask and don’t have to do social distancing,” he explained. “Those are the kind of people spreading this disease. If we don’t get this under control and have too many more infections, we are going to have problems.”

At a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on July 24,2020 DeSantis discussed, an initiative – called One Goal One Florida that “encourages” the public to follow four guidelines: Protect the vulnerable, practice proper hygiene, practice social distancing and wear a mask if in close contact with another person. This is a BLIP of a service announcement, too little too late.

300

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300 Brevard County, Florida students of an outdoor graduation ceremony ere told to quarantine for 14 days after an attendee was diagnosed with COVID-19. Each student could invite 2 guests, so overall 900 people could be affected.

Bayside High School in Palm Bay, Florida, held an outdoor graduation ceremony for seniors last Saturday, an event that appeared to mostly adhere to safety guidelines. Students wore masks as did attendees in the bleachers and seats were placed almost 6 feet apart on a football field. When students walked out to the field however they clustered tightly together in a line. After the ceremony the students then clustered together in tight groups to chat which could be another chance for the airborne virus to spread.

The health department didn’t confirm whether the person who tested positive for COVID-19 was a student or adult. About 30 adult school and district staff were present at the event as well. Faculty wearing gloves and masks handed students their diplomas as they walked across the stage. Only speakers removed their masks when they took the podium. Anyone who attended the graduation ceremony was advised by letter from the Florida Department of Health, to self-quarantine and monitor their symptoms for 14 days. On student interviewed mentioned she had invited both her grandparents and her mom and dad. It would seem the two guest limit was just a suggestion.

Florida continues to set new records in COVID-19 cases and deaths as the state passes 450,000 cases. Over 6,300 residents have died, and this week, child COVID-19 hospitalizations rose 23%. Brevard County has a total of 5477 Cases of Covid-19 with 108 deaths. 13 people have died today July30, 2020. I am shocked that Florida school officials thought an in person graduation ceremony was a good idea at the height of the pandemic. Faculty and students around the country are finding creative ways to celebrate virtually. If only that creative spark existed here.

House of Cards

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“This entire pandemic is a reminder of how fragile EVERYTHING in this country always has been. It’s a house of cards. It’s all a sham.” said Danielle Butterly.

Donald Trump is a self proclaimed war time president who has simply turned his back on the war to strictly focus on his re-election. The Washington Post reported, “Trump in recent weeks has been committing less of his time and energy to managing the pandemic, according to advisors. One of these advisers said the President is “not really working this anymore. He doesn’t want to be distracted by it.”

What he does have time for is photo opportunities in which he and his daughter Ivanka hawk beans. The photos were sent out on the POTUS Instagram page. In another insane distraction, the president posed with beans with a grin and strange thumbs up as the virus cases surge across the country. 143,289 Americans are dead and this is the presidents response. He has not been to a COVID-19 task force meeting since April. He openly undermines the scientists who are battling the virus daily. He prefers magical thinking that it will disappear. Trump is the king of the con, a perpetual scam artist. In this painting he is the joker, the weak link in a tower destined to crumble.

The Florida Department of Health reported 12,478 new positive COVID-19 cases on Sunday July 19, 2020 with 89 deaths in a single day. 9241 people are hospitalized with COVID-19. The US Government has stripped the CDC of its control of the COVID-19 data. Ever since the president said that he didn’t want a cruise ship to dock for fear that it would raise the numbers of cases, he has been focused on bringing down the numbers any way he can. In his mind, testing has caused the high numbers of those infected, so he wants less testing. What better way to reduce the numbers than to take control of them and not report them, or “fudge” them a bit? The date will be rerouted to the Trump administration.  The change sparked concerns among infectious disease and health care experts that the administration was hobbling the ability of the nation’s public health agency to gather and analyze crucial data in the midst of a pandemic. The new system was set up by TeleTracking, a private company based in Pennsylvania, which was awarded the $10 million contract in a non-competitive bid in April.

Creative Social Distancing

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I began to teach summer camps and started to think about creative social distancing solutions. Kids are notorious for not social distancing, and I didn’t want them to give each other the virus to take it home to their parents or grand parents. Children are less likely to develop severe symptoms but I was also concerned for instructors and their families.

On May 22, 2020 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that all children’s summer activities including Summer Camps would be allowed to re-open after two months of lock down. He said this would be safe because children appear to be less susceptible to complications from the virus. “Our kids have been out of organized activities for a couple months now,” he said. “We need to have a pathway to get it back.” he said.

Broward and Miami Dade Counties voted against opening summer camps. They felt three things had to be in place, social distancing, face masks and sanitation. Pediatricians had mixed opinions about whether the move is too hasty. Dr. Bruce Peters, said, “Children could infect the people they live with, including grandparents who may be compromised because of age, and it could cause another peak, another outbreak of COVID. There are so many factors we can’t control.”

An 11 year old is the youngest person to die in Florida and some children have been infected and become critically ill. State data show that 1,049 children 14 or younger had contracted the COVID-19 virus as of Thursday May 21, 2020 and forty-two children were hospitalized. In one hospital case study, a child tested positive for COVID-19 and was infectious for 17 days while showing no symptoms such as a temperature or cough. Children might be infectious for longer than adults while remaining asymptomatic.

DeSantis said he would leave it up to parents to decide whether their children participate in summer camp activities. So, with no effective leadership from Federal, State or County officials it became the responsibility of camp instructors to come up with possible ways to get kids to social distance. My first students were troopers about keeping their face masks on. I spoke to them about hand washing and wiping down anything they picked up before I started any art instruction. Temperature checks before entering the classroom were re-assuring but not a guarantee since anyone can be asymptomatic and still spread the virus.

Social Distancing was the difficult conundrum. I searched online for creative solutions. Restaurants put manikins, cardboard cut outs of celebrities or ghosts in empty seats to fill out a room. I liked huge plush toys like Sea Otters, Teddy Bears, or Panda Bears filling the seats. One restaurant had large plastic cup shields that surrounded diners like the cone of silence in Get Smart. One restaurant had individual greenhouses placed outside for diners. Partitions and shower curtains actually do little to stop the virus since they are not sealed off. Pool Noodles strapped to hats seemed fun as well a very large Burger King crowns the size of hoop skirts. Cardboard dragon sculpts seemed a perfect solution for a video gaming summer camp.

I was told that an Orlando Bar downtown had Halloween skeletons seated in empty seats. Considering the meteoric rise in COVID-19 cases in Florida this past week that seems the most fitting solution. On Saturday June 27, 2020 the Florida Department of Health, 9,585 new cases of COVID-19 were reported and the sales of alcohol in Florida bars was suspended. To put that in perspective NYC’s highest COVID-19 case count was about12,000 in one day. Florida may very well be in the same dire situation NYC was in back in March in the coming weeks unless measures are taken to stop the spread.

The CDC offered tips on how to protect children during the pandemic. They recommend, “keeping children at least 6 feet from other people and each other. If children meet in groups, it can put everyone at risk. Children can pass this virus onto others who have an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19. The key to slowing the spread of COVID-19 is to limit contact as much as possible. While school is out, children should not have in-person play dates with children from other households. If children are playing outside their own homes, it is essential that they remain 6 feet from anyone who is not in their own household.”

The CDC has house hold studies in the works but they do not know the impact that children have on the transmission cycle of the virus. The CDC is moving forward to find ways to open schools safely. Dr. Fauci in testimony Tuesday June 30, 2020 said, “We need to do whatever we can to get the children back to school.” At a COVID-19 Task Force press briefing, Secretary Ben Carson said, “The CDC is advising schools on how to bring students back to school safely. You don’t have to have everyone in auditoriums, those congregate settings, you would avoid. There would be fewer kids in the classrooms and the desks would be socially distanced. Instead of having the kids eating in a cafeteria they should be eating at their desks.”