COROANVIRUS

A new survey finds that vaccinated older adults are far more worried about COVID-19 than the unvaccinated are.

Gov. Ron DeSantis threaten to withhold funding from school districts that implement mandatory mask mandates in the fall has drawn blowback from his potential 2022 Democratic opponents.

At least four Florida school districts are trying to work around Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order barring school boards from requiring students to wear masks because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers at the University of South Florida surveyed 600 people to better understand what’s driving vaccine hesitancy in Florida.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Starting Saturday morning, both the Pfizer and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available at the Gateway Mall, Normandy Community Center and Hammond Senior Center sites in Jacksonville. The Duval County Alert System sent an alert Saturday morning about who is eligible for coronavirus vaccines. FEMA said approximately 790 people were vaccinated Saturday at Gateway Mall. AdThe Department of Health said that as of Friday, 137,499 people have completed their series of vaccines in Duval County. The site at Gateway Mall is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.Gov.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System is now offering the COVID-19 vaccination to veterans who receive care at the VA and are in the following professions:FirefightersPolice officersCorrections officersFood and agricultural workersGrocery store workersU.S. Postal Service workersManufacturing workersPublic transit workersEducational sector (teachers, support staff and daycare workers)Veterans may call 352-548-6000 ext. 103755, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, or 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturdays to schedule an appointment. Appointments are limited, and veterans unable to schedule an appointment will be documented and contacted when additional scheduling options are available. Qualifying veterans may receive the COVID-19 vaccination at no cost.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mayor Lenny Curry has extended Duval County’s mask mandate through at least Feb. 25, News4Jax learned Monday. That means everyone over the age of 6 must continue wearing a face mask or face covering while in public indoor spaces, including employees and customers at businesses within city limits. Duval County put the mandate in place in late June after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the recommendation. In Duval County, 78,492 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus and 873 have died. Florida never instituted a statewide mask mandate and Gov.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mayor Lenny Curry has extended Duval County’s mask mandate through at least Jan. 25, News4Jax learned Thursday. That means everyone over the age of 6 must continue wearing a face mask or face covering while in public indoor spaces, including employees and customers at businesses within city limits. Duval County put the mandate in place in late June after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the recommendation. In Duval County, 56,299 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus and 711 have died. Florida never instituted a statewide mask mandate and Gov.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As millions of Americans await the arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week approved an at-home COVID-19 test that can be purchased over the counter. The LabCorp Pixel COVID-19 test home collection kit will be available for purchase to anyone age 18 or older. This self-collection kit can then be sent to LabCorp to determine if someone is positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by novel coronavirus. If you test positive or the results aren’t clear, LabCorp will call you. “The kit can help individuals understand their COVID-19 status and make decisions about when self-isolation or quarantine might be necessary,” the FDA said of the product.

For Republicans, the pandemic is secondary in a runoff blitz defined by dire warnings about what it would mean if Warnock defeats Loeffler and Perdue falls to Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. Biden clipped Trump in the state by fewer than 13,000 votes out of more than 5 million cast. But Perdue led Ossoff by about 100,000 votes, finishing just short of the outright majority Georgia requires to avoid a runoff. Loeffler acknowledges the pandemic in her standard speech by highlighting her and Perdue’s votes for the spring economic relief package. The president has spent weeks asserting baseless claims of voter fraud in Georgia and other battleground states Biden won, without Perdue disputing the claims.

Now, there’s new evidence to suggest that stress can have a lasting impact on future babies. “We set out to do a chronic stress experience on dad and then look at the timing after that stress resolved. After male mice were given a stress hormone, researchers noted changes in their reproductive cells. The resulting baby mice showed big changes in early brain development. Bale and her colleagues did not specifically study men who were under stress during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our intent was not to say this mask doesn’t work, or never use neck gaiters” an associate research professor told the NYT. According to the Duke study, when someone spoke through a neck gaiter, droplets were broken into smaller ones that could stay in the air longer. But other researchers have since found that it was much more likely that Duke's neck gaiter was shedding microscopic pieces of fibers from the fabric. “Observations from the Duke study have been interpreted to mean that neck gaiters cause droplet breakup and are thus worse than no mask,” said Trinity University professor Ryan Davis. “We are working to develop a comprehensive understanding of this mask material dependence.”All of these scientists said that neck gaiters can protect as well as cloth masks, depending on the material they’re made from.

FILE - In this July 5, 2020, file photo, healthcare workers help each other with their personal protective equipment at a drive-thru coronavirus testing site outside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. The lack of equipment forced states and hospitals to compete against each other, the federal government and other countries in desperate, expensive bidding wars. In general, supplies of protective gear are more robust now, and many states and major hospital chains say they are in better shape. As of mid-June, for example, Montana had received 1,125 items of protective gear per case, compared with 32 items per case in Massachusetts, an early hot spot. A nonprofit group called #GetUsPPE was established in March by physicians to help distribute donated protective gear.

MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – Don’t plan on making a visit to the Florida Keys until at least June. While stay-at-home orders may be loosened soon, Monroe County does not anticipate reopening to visitors in May, county officials said Friday. “The last thing we want to do is open up the doors and then have a resurgence,” County Mayor Heather Carruthers told Local 10 News. The Keys have been discussing relaxing some restrictions for their residents in a “new normal.” They say they will first review the plans for Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. “It’s not going to be a snap your fingers and everything is back to normal by any means,” Carruthers said.

A 101-year-old man has been released from hospital after recovering from the novel coronavirus, Gloria Lisi, the deputy mayor of the Italian city of Rimini, has said. The man, who has been named only as "Mr P," was admitted to hospital in Rimini, northeast Italy, last week after testing positive for Covid-19 and left the hospital on Thursday. Rimini had registered 1,189 cases of coronavirus as of Thursday, according to the Italian Civil Protection Department. Authorities in 197 countries and territories have reported more than 549,000 novel coronavirus cases worldwide since China reported its first cases in December. According to figures from Johns Hopkins University, there have been 80,589 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Italy and 8,215 deaths.

For Kristen Monesmith, a North Carolina woman, Peru is a second home. But that good deed turned into a nightmare after Peru’s president put the country on lockdown to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. “The state department and the embassy this entire time has all the same thing: ‘Call your commercial airlines. As an emergency department nurse, Monesmith is eager to get home to help her own country through this crisis. But it’s unclear how the State Department plans to repatriate Americans stuck in other countries.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Low-income Floridians seeking benefits such as food stamps, temporary assistance or Medicaid coverage will no longer be able to apply for them in person because of the coronavirus outbreak. Department of Children and Families Secretary Chad Poppell said Wednesday the state was temporarily shutting down offices where people could apply or reapply in person for safety-net benefits. The state will direct people to either use an online portal or apply by phone. DCF will also allow people to drop off documents at a “secure drop box.” Poppell did not say how long the offices would be closed. But Poppell said the offices had only served a small percentage of residents seeking help.