Florida

Florida adds 20,860 COVID cases in past week as infections climb

Published

2 years ago

April 23, 2022

Press Room

Florida adds 20,860 COVID cases in past week as infections climb

Florida’s respite from the pandemic could also be ending. The state’s COVID-19 an infection charge has doubled previously two weeks and the positivity charges are as much as 8 p.c — the very best degree seen since February. Even hospitalizations, which are likely to lag behind infections, are ticking again up throughout the state.
A brand new pressure of COVID-19 could also be partially accountable. The variant, known as BA.2.12.1 is a part of the omicron household. It might be 23-to-27 p.c extra infectious than BA.2, in response to the New York Division of Well being, and is probably going behind the current spike in infections in that state. The Florida Division of Well being wouldn’t touch upon whether or not the brand new variant was a priority right here.
Florida’s an infection charge could also be worse than the numbers present. At-home checks will not be reported to state well being officers, and public testing services are tougher to come back by as of late. Meaning many infections will go unreported. Testing charges recovered barely since final week, however are nonetheless at a degree not seen since June 2020.

COVID-19 infections as soon as once more on the rise in Florida

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20,860: Variety of circumstances reported in Florida previously week.

2,980: Common circumstances a day, a 34 p.c enhance in comparison with the earlier week.

5,899,186: Complete variety of circumstances recorded in Florida.

73,822: Complete pandemic deaths in Florida.

133: Variety of deaths reported previously week.

When signs linger for weeks, is it lengthy COVID? | Column

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Vaccinations

56,553: Vaccinations (first or second doses) administered previously week, a 6 p.c drop in comparison with the earlier week.

83 p.c: Florida residents 5 and up who’re no less than partially vaccinated.

79 p.c: Complete Florida inhabitants that’s no less than partially vaccinated.

82 p.c: U.S. residents 5 and up who’re no less than partially vaccinated.

77 p.c: Complete U.S. inhabitants that’s no less than partially vaccinated.

41,335: Booster doses administered in Florida within the final week, a ten p.c drop in comparison with the prior week.

26 p.c: Complete Florida inhabitants that’s boosted.

30 p.c: Complete U.S. inhabitants that’s boosted.

Court docket ruling creates mishmash of transportation masks guidelines

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Positivity

8 p.c: Florida, in comparison with 6.2 p.c the earlier week.

Moderna pronounces step towards updating COVID photographs for fall

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Hospitalizations

746: Florida hospitalizations, a 7 p.c enhance in comparison with the prior week.

Editor’s observe: The Tampa Bay Occasions’ weekly COVID-19 abstract now studies information launched by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Earlier studies relied on the Florida Division of Well being. Nevertheless, the state not releases COVID-19 information on a weekly foundation. The change permits us to convey readers probably the most up-to-date COVID-19 information every week. Some CDC information for the Tampa Bay space was not obtainable to be included on this report.

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How elements of the U.S. test-to-treat COVID technique are failing

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The right way to get examined

Tampa Bay: The Occasions may also help you discover the free, public COVID-19 testing websites across the bay space.

Florida: The Division of Well being has a web site that lists testing websites within the state. Some data could also be old-fashioned.

The U.S.: The Division of Well being and Human Companies has a web site that may allow you to discover a testing web site.

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The right way to get vaccinated

The COVID-19 vaccine for ages 5 and up and booster photographs for eligible recipients are being administered at docs’ workplaces, clinics, pharmacies, grocery shops and public vaccination websites. Many permit appointments to be booked on-line. Right here’s find out how to discover a web site close to you:

Discover a web site: Go to vaccines.gov to search out vaccination websites in your ZIP code.

Extra assist: Name the Nationwide COVID-19 Vaccination Help Hotline.

Cellphone: 800-232-0233. Assist is accessible in English, Spanish and different languages.

TTY: 888-720-7489

Incapacity Data and Entry Line: Name 888-677-1199 or electronic mail DIAL@n4a.org.

• • •

OMICRON VARIANT: Omicron modified what we find out about COVID. Right here’s the newest on how the infectious COVID-19 variant impacts masks, vaccines, boosters and quarantining.

KIDS AND VACCINES: Received questions on vaccinating your child? Listed here are some solutions.

BOOSTER SHOTS: Confused about which COVID booster to get? This information will assist.

BOOSTER QUESTIONS: Are there uncomfortable side effects? Why do I want it? Right here’s the solutions to your questions.

PROTECTING SENIORS: Right here’s how seniors can keep protected from the virus.

GET THE DAYSTARTER MORNING UPDATE: Signal as much as obtain probably the most up-to-date data.

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Florida

Virginia boy charged with making swatting calls to Florida schools

Published

6 hours ago

July 27, 2024

Press Room

Virginia boy charged with making swatting calls to Florida schools

CBS News Miami

Live

An 11-year-Virginia boy has been charged in Florida with calling in more than 20 bomb or shooting threats to schools and other places, authorities said Thursday.

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said that authorities worked hard to find the caller before the school year resumes.

“This kid’s behavior was escalating and becoming more dangerous,” Staly said. “I’m glad we got him before he escalated out of control and hurt someone.”

Swatting is slang for making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to send a SWAT team or other armed police officers to a particular place.

Flagler County emergency services initially received a bomb threat at Buddy Taylor Middle School on May 14, officials said. Additional threats were made between then and May 22.

Investigators tracked the calls to a home in Henrico County, Virginia, just outside Richmond. Local deputies searched the home this month, and the 11-year-old boy who lived there admitted to placing the Florida swatting calls, as well as a threat made to the Maryland State House, authorities said. Investigators later determined that the boy also made swatting calls in Nebraska, Kansas, Alabama, Tennessee and Alaska.

The boy faces 29 felony counts and 14 misdemeanors, officials said. He’s being held in a Virginia juvenile detention facility while Florida officials arrange for his extradition. Investigators didn’t immediately say whether the boy had a connection to Florida.

A 13-year-old boy was arrested in Florida in May, several days after the initial call, for making a copycat threat to Buddy Taylor Middle School.

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Florida

Is there a sunken nuclear bomb near Florida? Here’s what to know

Published

13 hours ago

July 27, 2024

Press Room

Is there a sunken nuclear bomb near Florida? Here’s what to know

TYBEE ISLAND, Ga. – Off the coast of Georgia, a massive bomb potentially sits in the water after having been flown out from Florida decades prior.

According to NPR, the whole incident began in 1958 when a B-47 bomber plane took off from Homestead AFB in Florida with the 7,600-pound nuclear bomb in tow, heading out to meet up with another bomber for a training exercise.

During an open house at Boeing Plant 2 in Seattle, Washington, people walk around to view the lineup of Boeing bomber planes. This lineup at the northend of Boeing Field includes the B-29, B-47 “Stratojet,” and the B-52 “Superfortress.” (Photo by © Museum of Flight/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) (Museum of Flight/Getty Images)

HOW DID IT HAPPEN?

The plan was to reportedly simulate an attack on the Soviet Union as part of the exercise, and everything was going well — until another training mission mistakenly crashed into the B-47 carrying the bomb.

As a result, the pilot chose to let loose the bomb over the water off Tybee Island in Georgia before making an emergency landing in a nearby swamp.

Tybee Island Lighthouse (Photo by J. Miers via Wikimedia/Creative Commons)

The bomb didn’t go off even after dropping into the ocean below, though that could be because the nuclear material needed to set such bombs off was typically kept separate from the weapon until it was needed, the BBC reports.

DID THEY FIND IT?

Federal officials spent over two weeks searching for the bomb in the aftermath, but it was ultimately determined to be irretrievable.

While a receipt written by the pilot shows that the necessary capsule wasn’t added to the bomb before the training exercise — meaning it wouldn’t be at a huge risk of detonation — other federal officials have claimed otherwise, such as a former Assistant Secretary of Defense W.J. Howard, who claimed that the bomb was “complete.”

“He concluded that despite our best efforts, the possibility of an accidental nuclear explosion still existed,” a declassified report reads.

Nowadays, the bomb is thought to be covered by several feet of silt on the seabed, but if the explosives within are still intact, it could pose a major hazard to the environment. As such, federal officials have determined that it should be left undisturbed — even by further recovery attempts.

CAN AN ATOMIC BOMB GO OFF UNDERWATER?

If it’s actually off the coast of Tybee Island, then yes: the bomb can still detonate, even underwater.

In 1946, the U.S. tested an atomic bomb at the Bikini Atoll — in the Pacific Ocean far southwest of Hawaii — by suspending it below several ships filled with pigs and rats.

After it was set off underwater, nearly all of the animals died, either thanks to the initial explosion or from the radiation poisoning afterward. And the area is still irradiated to this day.

The Baker test during Operation Crossroads, a series of two nuclear weapons tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll. 25th July 1946. The purpose of the operation, which included two shots, ABLE and BAKER, was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on naval warships. Mushroom-shaped cloud and water column from the underwater Baker nuclear explosion. Photo taken from a tower on Bikini Island, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) away. Marshall Islands, Pacific. (PHoto by Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images) (2015 Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images)

WHAT HAPPENS IF IT DETONATES?

For starters: it doesn’t appear as likely that the bomb will explode.

While Howard initially claimed the bomb was complete, a military spokesman told The Atlantic in 2001 that they’d spoken with him, and “he agreed that his memo was in error.”

But if the bomb did manage to get outfitted with a plutonium trigger and detonated, it would erupt into an explosion with a mile-wide radius — and thermal radiation reaching 10 times that distance, according to the Savannah Morning News.

That would no doubt cause havoc within the immediate proximity, but on the bright side, Tybee Island is well over 100 miles (roughly a two-hour drive) from Florida’s border. This means Florida residents have little to fear from the direct impacts of such an explosion.

So you can sleep tight knowing you’re not likely to find yourself on the worse end of a nuclear weapon.

That being said, there are still plenty of other scary things in Florida to keep you up at night.

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Florida

Trulieve adds $5M to recreational marijuana campaign in Florida

Published

20 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Press Room

Trulieve adds M to recreational marijuana campaign in Florida

Stream FOX 35 News

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The medical cannabis company Trulieve has contributed another $5 million to a campaign to allow recreational marijuana in Florida, according to a newly filed finance report.

The company made the contribution on July 15 to the Smart & Safe Florida political committee, which is leading efforts to pass a recreational marijuana initiative on the November ballot.

MORE HEADLINES:

According to a state Division of Elections database, Trulieve had contributed about $60.39 million to the committee as of July 19.

The committee raised a total of $66.475 million in cash and nearly $129,000 in in-kind contributions, and it spent $53.963 million.

The initiative, which will appear on the ballot as Amendment 3, says, in part, that it would allow “adults 21 years or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for nonmedical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise.”

Voters in 2016 passed a constitutional amendment that allowed medical marijuana.

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