It was a day of gloomy recordings in Flagler County and the country, as the coronavirus accelerates, even though vaccines are spreading slowly – but very slowly – and drying up, for the time being, in Flagler.
The last of the Covid-19 vaccines available from Flagler County will be administered on Monday, drying up a supply of about 1,100 doses outside the local hospital and the pharmacies that supply assisted homes and nursing homes (which have their own supply, but very restricted). County officials do not know when the next batch of doses of the vaccine will be delivered and expect the next batch to be less than the 500 they received last Monday.
The supply “is effectively depleted,” said Jonathan Lord, the county’s head of emergency management today. “We have no idea” when it will be refueled. “The state cannot yet tell us what it can give us because it has not yet received its funds from the federal government. My instinct is, it will be even less. ”The small quantities of vaccines available and the strict dose-associated protocols – only the first respondents with direct contact with patients and people aged 65 and over are eligible – frustrated residents and generated much criticism of local authorities, although Lord insisted, precisely , that “It is not anyone’s fault that there are not enough doses.”
At least not locally. The federal government’s implementation has failed, and the Trump administration is in chaos, its governance reduced to a minimum, leaving state and local governments dealing with – and improvising – the consequences of the most serious public health crisis in a century. (Lord described the county’s response and what can be expected with vaccine records and the like here.)
Flagler’s Covid case load broke another weeklong record for the fourth consecutive week, totaling 341 cases so far this week (more cases in six days than in the first 20 weeks of the pandemic), with another day of reporting to end in the week . The county has confirmed 1,180 cases in the past four weeks – more than a quarter of Flagler County’s total of 4,173 cases since March. The Florida Department of Health today raised the number of Flagler deaths due to Covid to 50, a number that FlaglerLive has reported since late December based on internal health department documentation from the count, which differs from the state total . So it is not clear whether the state adjusted its number or whether it was a new death – bringing Flagler’s real total to 51.
“Now is not the time to be complacent in any way, shape or form,” said Bob Snyder, director of Flagler’s Department of Health, late in the afternoon. But local shops, restaurants, parks, the beach and other public places seem to be as busy as if it were 2019, after holiday trips and meetings that anticipated the exponential increase in cases.
Flagler’s positivity rate is now a staggering 13.3 percent, “an indication that, in addition to the doubling of confirmed cases, we have widespread illnesses in our community,” said Snyder, “and we attribute that to exactly what people have predicted, cases related to New Year’s parties and holidays, people on the go. It spreads among us. We are doing our best to follow up on case investigations and track contacts and distribute all the vaccines we have, as well as test the community and maintain continued public health services for the community. We haven’t heard from the state yet what our allocation is, if any, for the next week, and if we get an allocation, it will be minimal. ”
Lord and Snyder will appear before the County Commission on Monday morning to provide an update – and ask for more vigilance against a growing but dangerous paradox: some people are concluding that, as vaccines are spreading, the emergency is over. This is not the case by any stretch of the imagination, said Snyder, as the number of vaccinations remains minimal – only 443,600 in Flor, less than 2 percent of the population, and only 2,500 in Flagler, most of them in hospitals, among respondents and in long-term institutions.
In a sign of worsening local conditions, the Flagler Beach government announced today that it was closing City Hall and administrative offices, including the construction department, by January 19, as the city’s interim manager and at least one other person from the Construction Department passed away with Covid19.
“Yesterday afternoon I was informed that my test was positive for Coronavirus,” said Robert McFadden, the interim manager, in a statement today. “While I feel the mild effects of the virus, I am resting, excited and following the advice of medical professionals. I will remain quarantined at home until I can fully recover and get back to work, when it is absolutely safe to do so. ”City offices must be cleaned. McFadden was acting as manager and chief construction officer, so he would have been contagious in both places.
“At the moment, the city intends to proceed with all meetings scheduled in the Chambers of the Commission during this period, with appropriate procedures to protect the health and safety of the public, the elected officials and the staff being observed,” the statement continued. A city commission meeting is scheduled for next week, Thursday.
Flagler’s trend has been getting worse for weeks, but the trend in many other Florida counties is worse. In the state, where Governor Ron DeSantis refused to impose any restrictions since the state’s return to an open and full economy in late summer, the new cases totaled nearly 20,000 in a single day, the second worst total after the 31,518 confirmed in January .2, although the January 2 number included the value of two days, because of the New Year holiday. In effect, Florida broke a new single-day record on Thursday. The national figure was just shy of a December record, with 280,300 cases in a single day and 4,112 deaths in one day – a record, totaling 367,000 deaths.
AdventHealth Palm Coast had 21 patients with a primary diagnosis of Covid-19, also a record, according to this morning’s figures released by the state health care administration agency. AdventHealth hospitals across central Florida are under pressure increasing with Covid’s cases. On Wednesday, the hospital’s Central Florida region entered “red status”, which institutes a rigid screening system for a variety of cases.
“The number of patient volumes Covid-19 admitted to AdventHealth facilities in the Central Florida Division continued to increase and the clinical team determined that AdventHealth facilities in the Central Florida Division will be moved to Red Status, with immediate effect,” President and division CEO David Ottati, former CEO of AdventHealth Palm Coast, wrote the system doctors in a letter obtained by FlaglerLive. “However, cases already scheduled for this week will be analyzed by the campus medical director and / or department head to determine whether local resources are adequate to proceed.”
Ottati described the Status Red conditions, which postpone certain procedures and require “pre-approval for all non-urgent / urgent or non-emergent hospitalization procedures” and expand the supervision of the chief physician.
While pressure is mounting on local authorities to provide vaccines, officials have also become aware of a trend among a number of early Flagler County respondents – paramedic firefighters in particular – who, despite their bosses presenting weapons to be inoculated, have refused the syringe, at least for now.
Lord recognized the trend. “It is like many things in life, many people are not comfortable being the first,” he said, “and even in our community nobody is the first, the people in the trials are the first. Okay, when they’re ready, we’ll make sure they are attended to. ”Speaking at the WNZF this morning, Dr. Stephen Bickel, the medical director of the health departments of Volusia and Flagler, said that reluctance is not a concern, but a natural and common reaction to a new protocol, and that its gap for now it means leaving more vaccines for others.
The Florida Department of Health in Flagler County (DOH-Flagler) confirmed its schedule of COVID-19 tests during the week for the second week of January.
There will be no daily tests at the Cattleman’s Hall at the Flagler County Fairgrounds, which has become the health department’s main site for COVID-19 vaccinations. However, since vaccine doses remain low, vaccine appointments are not available at this time. Flagler County Emergency Management and the Florida Department of Health in Flagler County will notify public and local media outlets as this situation changes.
The COVID-19 driving test on 120 Airport Road is offered Monday through Thursday, from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm. No appointment is required and flu shots are available upon request.
Reminder, these are NOT quick tests. Results are available in 2 to 3 days.
The test also returns to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church on Friday mornings.
MONDAY, JANUARY 11
13:30 to 15:00
TUESDAY, JANUARY 12
13:30 to 15:00
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13
13:30 to 15:00
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14
13:30 to 15:00
FRIDAY, JANUARY 15
9 to 10:30
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church
4600 Belle Terre Parkway Palm Coast
No test in the afternoon
There are other locations in Flagler County that provide COVID-19 tests on weekends, including two Mediquick locations, CentraCare and CVS Pharmacies. Please confirm with each site in advance, as most require scheduling.
Questions related to COVID-19 health should be directed to a health care provider or the Florida health hotline at 866-779-6121. Additional information can be found at floridahealthcovid19.gov/.