Florida Napalm in the Morning

Posted on by Thor

Don Winslow released a short film titled Florida is Vietnam. The film pointed out that the United States lost  58,200 soldiers over 11 years in the Vietnam war. As of September 16, 2021 Florida has lost 47,000 people to COVID-19.

Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis has been downplaying the severity of the COVID death toll while hospitals were at capacity. He has been also hiding date and shuffling the numbers to spread the death toll out over time. Florida will likely surpass the numbers of dead from Vietnam.

Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, and the Florida Center for Government Accountability filed a lawsuit last month alleging the state of Florida is violating its open records laws by not disclosing more COVID-19 data, including county-level death figures. Just before going to court DeathSantis released some of the data.  USA TODAY Network – Florida analysis of the data shows that Florida counties where former President Donald Trump won heavily are experiencing some of the worst death rates. Vaccination rates are lower in those counties. There were large holes in the data released with many Florida counties reporting, “No data rather than the number of dead.

In a single day, September 15, 2021, 1,296 people died on  in Florida. The state now ranks 10th among states where coronavirus is spreading the fastest per person — and as top health officials leave their posts. The Department of Health confirmed September 14, 2021 that Deputy Secretary Shamarial Roberson is stepping down. Florida Health Secretary and state Surgeon General Scott Rivkees is also leaving after his contract runs out Sept. 20, 2021. Ron DeathSantis has blood on his hands.

Anti Vax Horror

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Orlando’s crop of Halloween Horror attractions are opening full boar in the midst of the pandemic. Scare actors are hard pressed to compete against the daily horrors of anti vaxers and anti maskers who selfishly spread the horrors of COVID-19 in the name of freedom. They have gone so far as to adopt the star of David which marked the Jews during WWII claiming that being forced to get a vaccine is equal to the holocaust. Their is no limit to their horror.

Halloween Horror Nights, and two Florida-based Howl-O-Scream events don’t require guests to wear masks, they are “encouraged”. Some of the scare actors  at Howl-O-Scream had facial coverings that had facial features printed on them to blend in with the intended character.

A Petrified Forest has the added benefit of being outside where the virus can potentially disparate on a breeze.

With Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis specifically blocking masking mandates and vaccine passports, it is a real challenge to keep actors and participants safe.

NYC theaters that are finally opening back up and they are requiring audiences to prove vaccination or a negative test and they must wear a mask at the performance. Disney started requiring masks for guests again when COVID cases ticked back upwards due to the Delta variant, but Universal Studios and Sea World, do not require masks, including at their haunt events. Social distancing markers are also long gone, so press together in mass crowds and share the horror. What could go wrong?

Local actors are also not showing up for auditions. What actor can compete against the real life horror of so many anti vaccination Karens? They are an army of the damned. Florida has passed the peak of Delta Variant hospitalizations but deaths continue to rise and will likely continue to do so for several weeks. The Florida governor also does his best to hide the death numbers for as long as possible. If he sweeps them under the rug or spreads them out he could possible be considered a candidate for president.

The Delta surge is even more deadly than the surge back in January 2021. Infections among children and teenagers have increased by 28% over the week before with some children’s hospitals noticing an uptick in admissions as well in the first few weeks back at school. An infant died in Orange County this week. Florida has now surpasses 50,000 deaths. That is more deaths than what can be seen in most countries around the world. Good luck searching for your Halloween Horrors.

Hating Mini Me

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The former 45th US president hates his mini me. “Trump f#cking hates DeSantis,” a confidant told Vanity Fair. “He just resents his popularity.” Earlier this year, a 2024 straw poll taken at the Western Conservative Summit saw DeathSantis slightly ahead of Trump, 74 percent to 71 percent.

Former adviser Jason Miller predicted that Trump “definitely will” seek the 2024 Republican nomination. But former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg predicted to Vanity Fair that since DeSantis is “primed to push Trump off the throne,” Trump will “offer Governor DeSantis a joint ticket.”

“Trump tells people, ‘I made Ron,'” a prominent GOP source told Vanity Fair anonymously. “Trump says that about a lot of people. But in this case, it’s actually true.”

DeathSantis is following in his mentors footsteps by killing as many Floridians as he can. As children return to schools he is fighting tooth and nail to keep schools from enforcing mask mandates. He lost this case in court but is appealing. He was late to close down and early to open while he blocks local governors from protecting citizens from the virus.

On August 31, 2021, more Florida children were hospitalized with COVID-19 than in any other state, reflecting a rapid rise in serious illness among an age group still not eligible for vaccination. In Florida, 46 pediatric patients were admitted to hospitals with confirmed infections On September 3, 2021 and 22 more were hospitalized with suspected cases, according to federal data. DeathSantis is fueling his political fire with the health of children. Oddly some voters might not appreciate a candidate who is actively trying to kill their children.

The governor asked the former president to postpone a campaign style rally in Florida as bodies were being removed for the site of a seaside condo collapse that killed 98 people. The former president refused. Trump’s post-presidency operation is led by Susie Wiles who lead DeathSantis’s governor campaign. “There’s a huge rift between the DeSantis and Trump [camps],” a source said, pointing directly to the conflict over the rally. (Like others interviewed for this piece, the source was granted anonymity to speak candidly.)

So, which of these men could kill more Americans? How many could they kill if they work together?

Canaries in the Coal Mine

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With schools open, children have become the canaries in the coal mine. Pediatric hospitalizations are surging due to COVID-19, pushing hospitals and health care workers to the limits. In Florida, there are more people dying of COVID-19 than ever before. There are also more children being infected than ever before.

Florida is averaging 250 COVID-19 deaths a day. 14 refrigerated mobile morgues have been moved to central Florida hospitals to handle the overflow of bodies. August deaths match the peak fatalities from the last wave of infections in January 2021.

Florida added 151,749 coronavirus cases. Nearly one out of every three infections was suffered by those age 19 and under.

More and more, COVID-19 is afflicting the state’s youngest residents. Ages 19 and under account for 32 percent of infections, or 48,215 cases. More than 9,000 Florida children test positive for coronavirus in two weeks since schools reopened.

Young Floridians also continue to lead all age groups in positivity rates: Ages 12-19 have a 23 percent positivity rate, the highest in the state. Children ages 12 and under have the second highest rate at 19 percent — and those 11 and under cannot be vaccinated.

Florida hospitals had 215 pediatric cases with confirmed COVID-19 as of Friday, the highest number of child hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic.

Five children under 16 have died from COVID-19 in Florida in the past four weeks.

Despite all this, Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis is still trying to keep local school boards from issuing mask mandates. A judge ruled August 20, 2021 that Florida school districts may impose mask mandates. Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper agreed with a group of parents who claimed in a lawsuit that DeathSantis’ order is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. Despite his court loss, the governor has begun withholding the salaries of school district administrators who have refused to comply with his unconstitutional executive order prohibiting them from enforcing mask mandates in schools.

Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), a district in Tampa, Florida, reopened to students for its first day of classes on August 10, 2021. The district had about 208,500 enrolled students as of the third day back at school.

The Orange County, Florida school district mandated masks after 400 COVID cases were reported in one day. The 60-day mask mandate requiring face coverings was institutes as the very contagious Delta variant ravages the state. The Orange County school board approved the mandate at its August 31, 2021 meeting, one day after the district confirmed more than 400 new cases of COVID-19 contracted by students and employees. The mandate goes into effect at the start of next week for all schools from pre-K through 12th grade. 382 students and 37 employees tested positive on August 30, 2021 . On August 31, 2021, the number of those quarantined was updated to 557. Orange County is the ninth Florida county to institute a mask mandate, going against the wishes of Republican Gov. Ron DeathSantis.

The legal battle over school re-openings, which have continued into this week, landed in court August 30, 2021 when 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.” Since Aug. 9, 2021 another child has also died, bringing the total to eight. How many canaries must die in the Governor’s political power play to send kids back to school without CDC advised safety precautions?

Slaughter House

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Florida is the epicenter of the worst outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. School boards in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough counties voted on August 18, 2021 to join Broward and Alachua in requiring students to wear facial coverings unless they get a doctor’s note. Orange County still allows an easy parental opt-out, but essentially four of Florida’s five largest districts are now defying Governor Ron DeathSantis’ ban on strict mask mandates.

The state board on August 17, 2021 voted to “investigate” the actions of Alachua and Broward school officials. The board could pursue financial and other penalties against school officials who require face mask mandates to keep children safe, even floating the idea of removing them from office.

Children under the age of 12 who can not yet get vaccinated are quite good at transmitting the virus. The highly contagious delta variant makes it absolutely necessary to wear masks indoors and avoid large group gatherings, so if unprotected students sit for hours in classrooms every day, it could rapidly spread infection in the community at large.

On August 18, 2021, President Joe Biden said his administration is prepared to take possible legal action against governors who try to prevent local school officials from imposing universal mask mandates, throwing yet another wrench into Governir Ron DeathSantis’ plans to sanction Florida school districts that require students to wear masks. “We’re not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children,” Biden said at the news conference. “If a governor wants to cut the pay of a hard-working education leader who requires masks in the classroom, the money from the American Rescue Plan can be used to pay that person’s salary,” Biden said. “One hundred percent.”

“Some politicians are trying to turn public safety measures — that is, children wearing masks in school — into political disputes for their own political gain,” Biden said. “Some are even trying to take power away from local educators. They’re setting a dangerous tone.”

 

Someone Died In My Bed!

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Roughly 1800 kids were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the US last week, a 500% increase in the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations for children since early July, according to data from the CDC. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said “If your child needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have COVID and need an ICU bed, we don’t have one.” He said “Your child will wait for another child to die before getting one.”

Emerging data from a large study in Canada suggest that children who test positive for COVID-19 during the Delta wave may be more than twice as likely to be hospitalized as they were when previous versions of the virus were dominating transmission. The new data support what many pediatric infectious disease experts say they’ve been seeing—younger kids with more serious symptoms.

Children under 12 still have no access to a vaccine, so they are facing increased exposure to a germ that’s become more dangerous with little protection, especially in schools where masks as a faint suggestion rather than a much needed mandate. Florida Children’s Hospitals are overwhelmed. Florida education officials who are trying to protect the children with mask mandates are having their jobs threatened by Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis. Florida’s Orange County Public Schools said it would require students to wear masks, except pupils whose parents opt them out with a signed note. Employees, visitors, volunteers and parents also will be required to wear masks, the district said. The CDC recommends that everyone – students, teachers, staff and visitors – wear masks in schools.

8,400 Tampa Florida area students and faculty are in quarantine after being exposed to the virus after just one week of school. An emergency school board meeting will be held the evening of August 18, 2021 to discuss the spread of the virus and take up the issue of mandatory mask wearing in schools. If approved, that could put the school district directly at odds with DeathSantis. Schools in Atlanta, Georgia reported over 4,000 COVID cases in just two weeks. Ten districts in that metro area have already suspended in-person learning.

Over 50 children are being hospitalized with COVID every single day in Florida. The state now leads the U.S. in new COVID-19 infections and has the highest rate of hospitalizations among children in the nation.

Back to School

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School children all across Florida have returned to school. Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis issued an royal decree saying parents can elect to not mask their children if they do not want them masked. 815 physicians signed an open letter asking him to repeal his anti-mask laws. Florida currently leads the nation in the number of children hospitalized for COVID-19. A child younger than 5 has died of COVID-19 at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.

Three Broward County teachers and a teachers aid died on August 12, 2021 all in the span of 24 hours from COVID-19. The Broward County school board voted 8 to 1 to mandate that students must wear masks in school. DeathSantis later said the Florida Board of Education could withhold the paychecks of school board members and superintendents who enforce mask mandates. He later had to back down from his threat to withhold school officials’ salaries if they resist his anti-mask rule since school board officials are not on the state payroll. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended all K-12 students wear masks for in-person learning. All across the state, only 4% of students tried to find excuses not to mask up.

Hospitals in Central Florida are full and as of August 9, 2021 nearly 14,000 people were hospitalized with COVID in the state, according to federal data. 440 students in Palm Beach County have been asked to quarantine just two days into the school year, after 51 students and faculty had confirmed cases on COVID-19. Mike Burke, Palm Beach County superintendent of schools blamed the opt-out rule as the reason for the spike in cases, calling on DeathSantis to make changes to protect students from infection.

In recent weeks there has been a surge in COVID hospitalizations among children in the United States. Nearly 94,000 new child COVID-19 cases were reported last week which is a substantial increase in cases. In Florida, the state with the highest number of confirmed pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations in the country, 179 children are receiving care, according to federal data. 29 kids are hospitalized in the Orlando area including 6 in the ICU. While severe illness due to COVID-19 remains “uncommon” among children, experts say the increased trend is concerning.

On August 12, 2021 Florida shattered another record with 24,869 cases of COVID-19 with 357 more deaths.

Freedom to Drown

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They say it is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Only when they are gasping for their last breaths do people lament not getting vaccinated when they had the chance.

Doctors and nurses are shocked that they must deal with sick unvaccinated patients who do not believe the virus is real. The vaccine life boat is there but they refuse to get on.

Right wing politics have made simple heath measures like wearing masks a flash point of contention. Ignorance is more contagious than the virus itself.

With the vaccination roll out coming to an absolute crawl, more than 100,000 Americans are refusing to take the vaccine which could vastly reduce the possibility of hospitalization and death from the virus. With most of the world wishing they could get a hold of the vaccine Americana are simply choosing to risk death to “own the liberals.”

As death rates soar, Facebook groups, Instagram accounts and Telegram channels dedicated to downplaying the pandemic attracted thousands of followers. Many Facebook accounts are run by suburban moms, who post memes about children being traumatized by masks. Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis is playing into that fear. Less than half of Floridians are fully vaccinated. The apocalyptic cults continue to flourish, believing they know more that the scientists and media who report what is happening around the world. Their world view seems limited by their anger and fear. Disinformation will keep this virus well fed far into the future.

The 1918 Spanish Flu lasted for three years. We are now into the second year of this pandemic. 675,000 Americans died due to the 1918 Spanish Flu. To date, 617,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. It looks like COVID will likely surpass the 1918 death toll. You might think that science and reason had developed in the last 100 years but the opposites seems to be true. The internet information age seems to have accelerated ignorance and fear. Over 3000 Americans died the week of August 8. 2021. It did not have to get this bad.

What Virus? What Insurrection?

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Since the start of the pandemic, science deniers have been saying that this COVID-19 is just like the flu. Politicians like the former president and the GOP have played down its lethality and spread.

Many unvaccinated people are denying the virus even exists right up to their dying breath. The curse the doctors and nurses who give them the news that they may have to go one a ventilator. Some beg for the vaccine but it is too late.

People grasp at conspiracy theories which give them someone to blame These theories are easier to believe that the science. The deniers refuse to wear a face mask or publicly disregard social distancing rules. Some deniers raise their indignation to an unnecessarily dramatic level of outrage. It is their rights, that they feel are most important. They care only about themselves. They fear loosing their grip on the only reality they can grasp. Facts no longer matter to them.

Around 13% of Americans think that the coronavirus probably or definitely isn’t real, according to a global survey from YouGov. In this alternate universe, GOP lawmakers are arguing that the rioters who used flagpoles as weapons, brutally beat police officers and chanted that they wanted to hang Vice President Mike Pence were somehow acting peacefully in their violent bid to overturn Joe Biden’s election win. COVID deniers and conspiracy theorists need an enemy and Biden fits the bill although the ex president was impeached twice and still under investigation for his criminal acts. One GOP called the terrorists “A mob of misfits” and another refereed to them as “Tourists.” The big lie that the election was stolen is as believable as the idea that the virus does not exist.

So many in Florida have been acting like the virus does not exist or is just a seasonal flu. They are paying the ultimate price but we all have to suffer because of their ignorance and selfishness. Florida just broke a record with over 21,000 cases of COVID in one day. This is the highest surge sine the start of the pandemic. Republican Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis has resisted mandatory mask mandates and vaccine requirements, and he has limited local officials’ ability to impose restrictions meant to stop the spread of COVID-19. His denial ism and ignorance is literally killing his constituants.

 

 

Don’t DeathSantis My Floriduh

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Floriduh Governor Ron DeathSantis has driven the state into the deep end of the pandemic pool.He is more interested in reelection stunts than working to protect his constituents from the virus.

The state is now the epicenter of the pandemic. With less than half of Floridians vaccinated the Delta variant is finding and attacking the unvaccinated. One in five cases in America are now from Florida. The state is seeing an average of 49.3 new daily Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people, according to data from the Brown School of Public Health. That’s nearly double the threshold for “red” designation on the risk-assessment map.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Deming declared a state of emergency, but his hands are tied because DeathSantis will not allow for mask mandates. Demings “strongly recommended’ that people wear masks indoors. Yet he can not enforce the recommendation. The CDC has said that everyone in high risk areas must wear a mask indoors, vaccinated or unvaccinated due to the heightened risk presented by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

DeathSantis’s goal is to dis-inform, deny, and deflect. He has blocked the Florida Health department from posting daily COVID case numbers. It shouldn’t take unending media requests and lawsuits to jar loose information the public needs to understand this horrible pandemic. It shouldn’t take unending media requests and lawsuits to jar loose information the public needs to understand this horrible pandemic. The media have to send constant requests for the numbers and fight the Governor in lawsuits to get the information. Tax payers foot the bill for his need to hide the numbers. Do not trust this man with your life. stay informed and follow the advise of health experts.

Despite this surge in cases Florida theme parks are filling to capacity with no mask requirements. There is money to be made as the guests infect one another and spread the virus across the country. DeathSantis has also been fighting the cruise ship industry insisting that the infected should be allowed to board ships to infect whoever they like. Norwegian Cruise Line filed a lawsuit against Florida, saying that said the state’s ban hurts its ability to prevent the spread of the virus onboard ships.

Advent heath hospital in Orange County is at capacity. Sick patents are lining the halls of the ER. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC said, “If you are not vaccinated, you remain at risk.” “The good news is that if you are fully vaccinated, you are protected against severe Covid, hospitalization and death, and are even protected against the known variants, including the Delta variant.” However a study done in Israel points out that the Pfizer vaccine has been loosing its efficacy. At first it was said that the Pfizer vaccine offered 94% protection against infection. However the Israel study found it is now just 35% effective against infection. The upside is that the vaccine is still very effective, protecting against serious illness and hospitalizations. Pfizer is working on a booster shot but the CDC is slow to course correct. The CDC is now considered that everyone wear masks when indoors.

The DeathSantis campaign merchandise thumbs it’s nose at science and the pandemic, taking aim at Dr. Fauci. You can order a t-Shirt that says, “Don’t Fauci My Florida.” I think a t-Shirt that says, “Don’t DeathSantis My Floriduh.” would be more accurate. DeathSantis also has beer koozies that say, “How am I going to drink my beer with a mask on?” It does take an idiot to not know how to drink a beer and them lift a mask back in place. A better Koozie might say “How am I going to drink this beer, since I am on a ventilator.”