The Escambia Board of County Commissioners voted down a motion by Commission Lumon May to make face masks mandatory in the unincorporated parts of the county.
May presented the resolution that the Pensacola City Council passed last month asking the county to follow their lead on face masks. Over 80% of May’s District 3 voters have said they wanted a mandatory order.
District 4 Commissioner Robert Bender, whose represents most of the city residents not covered by Commissioner May, seconded May’s motion for discussion but balked at fines for mask violations.
Instead, Bender and the three other commissioners passed a resolution calling on residents to wear masks, wash their hands and practice social distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Again, May was the only commissioner to wear a face mask at the meeting.
County Administrator Janice Gilley hit the commissioners with “conceptual plan” for CARES Act spending. As we reported earlier, the plan was presented at the morning’s agenda review with no prior release for the public to review. She tried to hire a consultant – Blue Sky Emergency Management – to help her for $24K a month, but the commission only approved one month.
Inweekly will have more on the CARES Act plan later.
The August 5 COVID data:
Escambia 137 more cases, four more deaths. Â Good news, positivity rate stayed below 10%.
| as of Aug 6 | 8/4/20 | 8/5/20 | Increase |
| Total Cases | Â Â Â Â Â 502,739 | Â Â Â Â Â 510,389 | Â Â Â 7,650 |
| Fla Residents | Â Â Â Â Â 497,181 | Â Â Â Â Â 504,768 | Â Â Â 7,587 |
| Deaths | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 7,627 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 7,747 | Â Â Â Â Â Â 120 |
| Escambia | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 8,367 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 8,515 | Â Â Â Â Â Â 148 |
| Fla Residents | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 7,492 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 7,629 | Â Â Â Â Â Â 137 |
| Deaths | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 107 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 111 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 4 |
| Hospitalizations | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 491 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 503 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 12 |
| LTC | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 759 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 771 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 12 |
| Corrections | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 66 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 70 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 4 |
| Positivity | 9.9% | 9.5% | -0.4% |
| Santa Rosa | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 3,610 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 3,700 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 90 |
| Fla Residents | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 3,585 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 3,672 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 87 |
| Deaths | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 32 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 34 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2 |
| Hospitalizations | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 177 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 180 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 3 |
| LTC | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 169 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 180 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 11 |
| Corrections | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 898 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 927 | Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 29 |
| Positivity | 12.8% | 12.7% | -0.1% |
I guess to the garden, Joan.
Melissa .. Short answer, I see you and I hear you. Rhetorical question. Where do we go from here…
It’s so sad, Joan. I’m still floored and appalled that they didn’t even make the letters from the hospital administrators public or address them in the meeting. (And why weren’t the hospital administrators there in person to advocate for their healthcare workers?) Studio 850 did us a solid and got the letters up, and they are being widely circulated on social media now.
To little purpose, other than public awareness of what the BOCC was apparently trying to keep from coming out.
Thank you, Commissioner May, for being the only commissioner who sits that dais who had the courage and integrity to not just say the right thing, but to do the right thing last night.
I really didn’t think that anything about local politics could shock me at this point. But even now, I’m still in amazed disgust that four of the commissioners actually seem to think that they fooled anyone–anyone–that they did something last night. Even the anti-maskers are having their cake and eating it too, deriding the ridiculous resolution at the same time they are glorying in their selfish and lunatic obstructionism.
I must be naive, because I’m shaken to the core that these men failed to do what needed to be done at a moment that the majority of our community recognizes is already too late for the best efficacy.
And now the day after the meeting, it’s becoming common knowledge that Ascension has already had to hire a huge amount of nurses. Talk to any hospital worker or EMS in Escambia and Santa Rosa and the reality of what’s happening inside those hospitals is horrifying.
So here we are, folks. It’s every man for himself in the next two weeks in Escambia County.
–Throw the lambs to the slaughter with the opening of the schools.
–Crumble under the pressure of people who mocked teachers for wearing masks at the meeting last night.
–Ignore the local doctors imploring the commissioners for help.
–Let the hospital house of cards fall down.
–Throw the assisted care facilities open for visitation and let the oldies die.
–Fail to get control of an administrator who is pretending there is no problem in the jails.
–Put the lives of every County worker and every citizen who enters a County building at risk by not even mandating masks on County property.
–Let responsible shopkeepers deal with the constitution thumping nut jobs with kaleidoscopes in their eyes.
–Starve the City of the resources it needs as the only local responsible body taking action.
–Sit back, politic, split hairs, and bank on the mistaken notion that the majority of your electorate are too ignorant to see what’s going on, while caving to the slim portion who actually are.
Am I missing anything else from the plan?
There are no leaders at the county. They are concerned about lawsuits and reelection and power for their personal agenda. The ones in the running to get elected are no better.
Example The meeting yesterday could have been on Zoom. They chose to meet– they should have worn masks as an example. (even if they personally felt different about it)
They didn’t think how the message would be received. That’s the point.
People are commenting on sites thanking BOCC for allowing freedom and still the deniers think that’s what it meant when they didn’t pass a mandate. Public reads a headline then each others’ comments., then argue.
How many times and how many ways does the message have to come through to– social distance– wear a mask, and wash hands? Apparently for some it will never sink in.
One bad apple does indeed spoil the whole bunch.