The media is lying. On COVID, Florida is still doing well
You wouldn’t know it from all the liberal news coverage of Florida’s COVID-19 response, but things are actually pretty good in the Sunshine State.
The media is lying. On COVID, Florida is still doing well
You wouldn’t know it from all the liberal news coverage of Florida’s COVID-19 response, but things are actually pretty good in the Sunshine State.
Take it from a guy who just moved back here on purpose. Florida is doing quite well if you’re a resident who has come here to escape heavy-handed state governments and avoid mandatory masking or vaccines. It’s great if you’re fully vaccinated because you run a less than a 1% chance of COVID-related hospitalization or death. It’s even great for the unvaccinated who choose not to get the vaccine and risk facing an aggressive COVID variant — you will be left alone.
Still, news outlets can’t stop talking about how high the COVID cases are among Floridians, stoking ire against Gov. Ron DeSantis’s laissez-faire pandemic response. They seem genuinely frustrated that DeSantis refuses to impose restrictions that would protect the unvaccinated at the cost of the livelihoods of those who have been vaccinated. "Why must he persist," they seem to wonder, "with this dangerous notion that people who want to get vaccinated can, and those who don’t want to don’t have to?"
The answer is quite simple: Because it works.
Florida is sitting squarely in the middle of the pack when it comes to nationwide state vaccination rates. As of Aug. 8, nearly 60% of the state is at least partly vaccinated, while nearly 50% of the state is fully vaccinated.
Kaiser Family Foundation released an analysis showing that COVID breakthrough cases (vaccinated individuals who have contracted COVID) represent less than 1% of those who have been vaccinated nationwide. The percentage of people who have been vaccinated, contracted COVID, and died is even lower.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, has transitioned “from monitoring all reported COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infections to investigating only those among patients who are hospitalized or die, thereby focusing on the cases of highest clinical and public health significance.” Why? Because the CDC can only track the people who are being hospitalized by the virus — the vaccine, by and large, is doing its job keeping people no more than asymptomatic if they contract COVID.
As of July 26, the CDC reported 6,239 breakthrough hospitalizations nationwide. Of those patients, 26% of those hospitalizations were reported as asymptomatic or not related to COVID. Likewise, the CDC had reported 1,263 breakthrough fatalities, of which 24% were reported as unrelated to COVID.
The country is in a better place than it was a year ago. We have three safe and effective COVID vaccines. Anyone over the age of 12 who wants to get the vaccine can get it, and anyone who doesn’t want the vaccine doesn’t have to. Whether or not to be protected against COVID is, and should be, a decision folks can make all on their own. Florida knows and abides by this, even while getting lambasted everyday by the likes of CNN and White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
To be sure, Florida has faced an increase in hospitalizations over the past month. But it’s clear who is getting sick and hospitalized: younger, unvaccinated people. Through a concerted effort by the DeSantis administration to prioritize early vaccinations for Florida’s most prominent at-risk population, 85% of the state’s elderly population (65 and up) have been vaccinated with one or more doses. Conversely, ages 20-39 are only about 45% vaccinated.
As the state’s government has resisted new restrictions amid rising cases, the severity of the delta variant has come front-of-mind to many unvaccinated people. That’s why, in the past two weeks, Florida has seen an increased rate of vaccinations as the highly infectious and perhaps deadlier variant wreaks havoc on those who have resisted the shot previously. The rising case count has also informed other COVID-safe behavior. More individuals are seen sporting masks indoors and, in some cases, even outdoors.
What it boils down to, and what national news outlets can’t stand, is that Florida won’t sacrifice its economy and people’s freedom to protect the unvaccinated. And why should it when everyone has virtually full, unfettered access to the vaccine?
From Washington, D.C., to the Bay Area counties of California, many public health officials are urging or actively re-implementing mask mandates and other COVID restrictions, “regardless of vaccination status.” In the Sunshine State, regardless of vaccination status, you will be left to your own devices. Given the choice of where to live, I’ll take the risk of freedom every time.
Tyler Shanahan (@TylerKShanahan) is a contributor to Young Voices and a Florida native.
