Tourist council questions plan to use hotel tax to help pay for lifeguards.
Just a day after the Brevard County Commission approved using a combination of general funds and tourist tax dollars to fund ocean lifeguards, that decision is under fire. WFIT’s Rick Glasby has the story:
Brevard County Tourist Development Council members are questioning the legality of the county's use of tourist tax money to help pay the salaries of lifeguards. The council wants Florida's Attorney General's Office to weigh in on the matter. They want the County Commission to seek a legal opinion from the Attorney General’s Office. Of the $3.7 million funding package for lifeguards for the next budget year, nearly $1.6 million will come from the tourist tax.
More misinformation on COVID vaccines
In what many health experts say has become a pattern of spreading vaccine misinformation, the Florida health department is telling older Floridians and others at highest risk from COVID-19 to avoid most booster shots, saying they are potentially dangerous.
Clinicians and scientists denounced the message as politically fueled scaremongering that also weakens efforts to protect against diseases like measles and whooping cough.
The bulletin makes a number of unproven claims about the efficacy and safety of mRNA-based COVID vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna, including that they could threaten “the integrity of the human genome.”
A former health department director in Jacksonville said “What you see is a pattern of fear and neglect of professional responsibilities across the state, in part because of the fear of this governor and the vindictiveness of this governor.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Cherie Duvall-Jones, said the agency “strongly disagrees with the State Surgeon General of Florida’s characterization of the safety and effectiveness of the updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.” The vaccines met the FDA’s “rigorous, scientific standards,” she said, and she urged people to get boosters since the population’s COVID immunity has waned.
Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said “We’re in the disinformation age, It’s certainly a lucrative business, more lucrative than the information business. But what really bothers me is when you have people who are credentialed stand up and say these ridiculous things.”
Free COVID tests available again
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is once again offering free COVID tests.
According to Florida Department of Health data in Florida, positive cases were down from July. However, COVID-related deaths were up in Florida, with 873 reported in August compared to 434 the month before.
A new vaccine/booster is available and has been recommended by the FDA.
To get your free tests go to COVIDTests.gov or call 1-800-232-0233.
Four Tests are available per household. The tests and shipping are free, and shipping will begin the week of Sept. 30.
The expiration date on some older leftover tests has been extended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
According to the latest CDC guidance, if you have symptoms stay home and avoid people you live with who are not sick. Return to normal activities when, for at least 24 hours, both of these are true:·
Your symptoms are getting better overall, and·
You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication)
When returning, wear masks, stay at least 6 feet away from other people for five days, especially if you are around people who are more susceptible to severe illness You can still spread the virus even if you're feeling better.
more info www.floridatoday.com
