As of March 13, 54,023 in Escambia County have received at least on shot of the COVID vaccine – 29,272 have completed the series.
Axios Vitals author Caitlin Owens reports vaccine enthusiasm has increased nationwide but Republicans, particularly males, have been reluctant to get the shot:
- Nearly half of Republican men — 49% — said in an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey, conducted March 3-8, that they won’t choose to be vaccinated when they’re allowed.
- 41% of all Republicans said the same.
By contrast, 6% of Democratic men said they wouldn’t get the shot.
- 25% of Black respondents, 28% of white respondents and 37% of Latino respondents said the same.
CJ, you seem kind of tech savvy, based on your comments. You do realize you can order online from Walmart, Target, etc ? So if you’re so scared of the virus, why do you keep going back to these uncontrolled infectious places? 🤷â€â™‚ï¸
Burt, you are mixing apples with oranges. Obtaining a vaccine has not been without its challenges, but I am happy to hear that you got yours more quickly than some have and that things seem to be improving.
There is a big difference between getting vaccinated and obtaining a covid test. Surely you understand that that the numbers going up on vaccines is a political positive, whereas increasing availability to covid testing–and encouraging sick people to get tested–would result in higher covid numbers than what we already have, which is a political negative.
I agree with you entirely that there are politics being played here. But it’s not me who is playing them.
BTW, my friend finally got tested because his company sent out a private nurse to his home to get him tested.
Pensacola is definitely a “mask optional” city now. I was “just” in the Smoothie King across the street from Sacred Heart. The two people working there wore masks. During the time I was in the store, I counted 12 total customers including me. Four of us were wearing masks. The other eight were not wearing masks. If Smoothie King cared about the COVID-19 public health emergency, and apparently they do not, they would have put up a sign and instructed their employees to politely tell people, “Please put on your mask to keep ‘us” safe.” After all, the people most vulnerable in businesses are the employees. I bet that 99% of people would do it and especially if they had a few masks on a table. It seems ironic and hypocritical that the city government will bend over backwards to do something, like spend taxpayer dollars to buy back and destroy firearms, saying “if it will only save a single life…”, but when it comes to wearing masks in businesses few seem to care and the city is fine with it. I was also over at West Florida Hospital yesterday and outside I overheard a support staff employee talking to someone on his cell phone about the “mask hoax.” On the upside, at least all of the Nurses there take it seriously.
Wow , this was my experience with scheduling a shot with Community Health.
My Escambia Covid info still listed appt s for Tuesday at Brownsville Comm. Center
That’s the first Vaccine clinic that I found that includes the Gov’s newest parameters
I figured what the heck
I called about 1100 ,, (they started at 0800) “sure, we have appts open for Moderna vaccine , morning or afternoon?â€
So 0850 Tuesday I get the 1st shot
They answered on the second ring?
Since then ive been contacted twice over the weekend by the FL DOH about scheduling my first shot (I had pre registered and was now able to get the vaccine under the new orders). On the second call and VM I contacted them to tell them I was scheduled and that they were doing a great job on follow ups. So, I can only say a previous poster on this comment section must have knowledge of lets say polar opposite experiences.
I smell politics. Politics needs to go far away from this pandemic.
Not entirely related, but thought maybe you could mention it to the county communications team: The county needs to update their link for Ascension Sacred Heart covid testing (getsacredheartcare.com) on their covid page. When you click to sign up for a test, it takes you to an error page– it’s been this way for WEEKS. The Ascension Sacred Heart site is one of the easiest, fastest and largest test sites in the county and it’s a shame that people looking for a way to get tested will only find a broken link.
Thank you for continuing to report on this, Rick, while it seems as if we are all supposed to be pretending covid is over in the state of Florida.
Meanwhile, over 30,000 Floridians have died and Florida has the highest percentage of the B.1.1.7 variant, as best as it can be tracked among states that are doing it, at an estimated 30 percent or higher of cases.
A friend needing a covid test this morning was told by his doctor he doesn’t need one. Community Health is a long hold on their screening line (don’t know how long; I gave up after about 10 minutes), which is not their fault, as they continue to carry so much of the burden. (I stopped keeping track of screening a while back, so don’t know the status of that these days, and was trying to find out.) Otherwise common sensical, good people continue to throw up memes proliferated by Facebook bots making fun of masks. I have had several people tell me that they are just throwing caution to the wind “unless there is another uptick.”
I am sure Keith Wilkins will do everything in his power to keep City Hall as safe as possible, contrasted with Janice Gilley’s administration, which has never implemented any serious measures to protect staff and citizens from covid spread. Employees have sickened and even died as a direct result of the horribly inadequate response–nothing but ridiculous theater, which then gets made fun of for its absurd inadequacy.
It’s so very sad. And will continue to be, because covid isn’t over yet.