Join our letter writing campaign to Keep Our Children Safe
Join our letter writing campaign to Keep Our Children Safe.
Governor Ron DeSantis is working overtime to pressure local counties into moving into Phase 2 of reopening before they are ready. He is playing games with the data just to support his agenda.
Governor DeSantis has altered the way the state of Florida calculates positivity rates, now counting each individual negative test separately but grouping positive cases in an attempt to make the state appear safer for continued reopening.
Non-partial groups, like Johns Hopkins researchers, using the same data but calculating the rates uniformly across the country, have found that Florida’s positivity rates are WELL ABOVE what the state claims it is. Johns Hopkins has the positivity rate for Florida at 14.7% over the past two weeks, the second highest nationwide. It is well above the rates calculated by DeSantis and the Florida Department of Health. Experts agree we need to be well under 5% to move to Phase 2.
Currently it has been taking weeks for regular people to get their COVID results returned, rendering contact tracing completely obsolete. The test results must be turned around quicker.
Additionally, the number of tests administered have fallen dramatically, which is also skewing the numbers. Testing has fallen from 1.6 million to 1.2 million OVER THE PAST 30 DAYS.
Once the Governor forces South Florida counties (Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade) into Phase 2 of reopening, many South Florida public schools will also be forced to reopen one week later for in-person brick-and-mortar schooling, a very dangerous choice. There has been 47,762 cases of COVID-19 in children with 596 that have been admitted to the hospital in Florida since March.
It is UNETHICAL and risk to PUBLIC SAFETY to gather for in person classes in Florida when pediatric cases are at their highest point EVER and increasing at a alarming rate. In August alone, over 550 COVID positive children are diagnosed EVERY DAY. Every single hour in Florida, 23 children are diagnosed with COVID.
We cannot allow our governor, who has repeatedly claimed that COVID does not impact children, force local officials to put our children in danger.
We must send a CLEAR message to our elected leaders that we want them to listen to the scientists and doctors about when and how to reopen safely.
Governor DeSantis is overstepping. Local leaders can make the choice of when our communities are ready to enter the next phase of reopening. Local leaders have the power of Home Rule and need to exercise it NOW to prevent DeSantis from further harming our community and putting our teachers, children, and community at risk.
Johns Hopkins has the positivity rate for Florida at 14.7% over the past two weeks, the second highest nationwide. It is well above the rates calculated by DeSantis and the Florida Department of Health.
Here is the link to the Johns Hopkins COVID in Florida page. Navigate to the data on the last week to see the current positivity rates as compared to the “all time” positivity rates. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/florida
https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-us-cases-highest-positivity-rates-states-1523958
Gov. DeSantis hints at Phase 2 reopening for South Florida. Not so fast, health experts say: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-south-florida-misses-covid19-reopening-guidelines-20200820-h3nlenh2pfgrnkhhejxngr27km-story.html
https://floridacovidaction.com/
Florida coronavirus: More than 7K children diagnosed, 1 death in last 13 days:
Covid cases in Florida for children under 18:
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