According to Edwin Michael, a professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, the surge in COVID cases in Florida will continue for another month or so. “Short term and long term, the cases are going to explode. We are predicting that the cases will be peaking the first week of September,” Michael stated, according to the New York Times. “Our simulations show that if we don’t slow the hospitalizations, if we don’t prevent the wave of coming infections, we might exceed Florida’s bed capacity in early September,” he said.
“We need a two-pronged approach,” Dr. Michael explained. “Get as many people vaccinated as possible, especially the pediatric population. But to prevent the coming waves, we need to couple it with social-distancing measures and face-mask mandates.” He lamented that it was too late for vaccinations to slow the current wave, since that takes a full five weeks from the first dose to full protection.
The Miami Herald also has a lengthy article on the crisis in Florida. “It just went boom,” said Ademola Ayo Akinkunmi, director of patient care services for Jackson Health, one of the largest hospitals in Miami. Said the Herald: “During the past month, the COVID-19 pandemic has roared back to life with astonishing speed and frightening virulence, crushing hopes for an end to the epidemic and presenting new challenges for public health officials.”
The vaccination statistics in Florida are pretty much right at the national average – 50% of the eligible (over 12) population is fully vaccinated. The state health department’s weekly COVID-19 status report counts 10 million fully vaccinated Floridians, or about 52.5% of an estimated 19.1 million eligible residents. “Miami-Dade has a relatively high vaccination rate — 85% of vaccine-eligible residents have received at least one dose and 70% were fully vaccinated as of July 29, according to the CDC,” the Herald wrote. “Still, there are nearly 8 million Floridians who are eligible for the vaccine but have not taken it, said Jason Salemi, an epidemiologist with the University of South Florida in Tampa. `Almost 1 million of those are people 65 and older,’ he said.”
Why are 1 million Floridians over 65 not vaccinated at this point?!
