According to the latest Inweekly/Political Matrix, nearly 80% of Escambia voters believe face masks help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus and want them mandated for county employees and visitors to county buildings. Only about 15% take the opposite view.
Escambia County is one of the few large Florida counties that only encourages its employees to wear face coverings and doesn’t require visitors to county buildings to wear them.
The poll was of 823 Escambia voters equally spread over all five commission districts. Voters were called using an Interactive Voice Response system during the hours of 4-8 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 2. The Margin of Error for this study is +/- 4.5% with a confidence level of 95%.
When you break it down to commissioner districts, belief in the value of face masks to prevent spread of the virus ranges from 73.9.% to 88.4%.
The most vocal commissioner opposed to any face mask mandates – District 2 Doug Underhill – have 80% in favor of requiring face coverings in county buildings for employees and visitors.
On the other end of the commission spectrum, Commission Lumon May, who has advocated for face masks, has strong support from his district – with 88.4% believing wearing a face mask prevents spread of the virus and who want face coverings required in county buildings.
We will publish the rest of the poll on Tuesday morning.
Do you think wearing a face mask helps prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus?
Total | Overall % | |
Yes | 655 | 79.6% |
No | 122 | 14.8% |
Undecided | 46 | 5.6% |
District 1 | District 2 | District 3 | District 4 | District 5 | |
Bergosh | Underhill | May | Bender | Barry | |
Yes | 73.9% | 75.0% | 88.4% | 81.5% | 79.0% |
No | 20.0% | 16.5% | 8.5% | 13.9% | 15.3% |
Undecided | 6.1% | 8.5% | 3.0% | 4.6% | 5.7% |
Should face masks be mandated for county employees and visitors to county buildings?
Total | Overall % | |
Yes | 641 | 77.9% |
No | 126 | 15.3% |
Undecided | 56 | 6.8% |
District 1 | District 2 | District 3 | District 4 | District 5 | |
Bergosh | Underhill | May | Bender | Barry | |
Yes | 72.1% | 79.9% | 88.4% | 76.3% | 72.6% |
No | 21.8% | 12.8% | 7.9% | 17.9% | 15.9% |
Undecided | 6.1% | 7.3% | 3.7% | 5.8% | 11.5% |
Deadly, Infectious July for Escambia
30-Jun | 31-Jul | Â Increase | % | |
Total cases | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2,046 | Â Â Â Â 7,908 | Â Â Â Â Â 5,862 | 287% |
Fla cases | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1,692 | Â Â Â Â 7,074 | Â Â Â Â Â 5,382 | 318% |
Hospitalization | 94 | 440 | 346 | 368% |
Deaths | 44 | 97 | 53 | 120% |
Long-Term Facilities | 344 | 714 | 370 | 108% |
LTC deaths | 34 | 59 | 25 | 74% |
Tests | Â Â Â Â Â Â 33,938 | Â Â 64,979 | Â Â Â 31,041 | 91% |
Positivity | 6% | 12% | 6% |
Same could be said for most laws.
So, 80% of county residents believe masks prevent the virus from spreading and think people should be required to wear them. 80% voluntary complaince for any public safety/health effort would be amazing. Why do we need a government mandate if 80% of the population is already voluntarily complying?
ps. Dear Rick and Jeremy, I should have been clear that I wasn’t labeling this important post a “puff piece.”
I was referring to the wine and roses approach the PNJ is taking to the pandemic right now. Late last night (Sunday), I noticed an article clear at the bottom of their page that had to do with a roundtable that the administrators and other local healthcare officials had attended at UWF this last Friday (who knew?). I was appalled that the quotes were very evidently cherry-picked to downplay the seriousness.
That’s the best I can do off memory, because I can’t find the piece now. That particular puff seems to have poofed.
Maybe the PNJ did their trick of removing something they realized wasn’t just the thing. Or maybe they don’t want to distract anyone from their more important business of meddling in the District 1 election. (Yes, we all see it.)
Perhaps somebody else is aware of where that article now living and will post it here. That particular orchestration aside, there are other sunshine and rainbows pieces featured front and center on the PNJ site currently.
Sorry for the back-to-back, but I needed to clarify how many people are aware that the *only* place this community has gotten the straight dope on covid so far is on this blog. Thank you so much for your tireless work and not giving up on trying to open people’s eyes to what’s really going on. Maybe some more of our press will wake up and start reporting the news rather than managing it for whatever ties that influence them.