Hospital Directors Urge Escambia County Commissioners to Act on Masks in Public

I'll be speaking with them tomorrow morning on my Coffee with the Commissioner meeting--but meanwhile the CEO's of Escambia County's 3 Main Hospitals and the Executive Director of Community Health NW have sent this below request to the BCC members late this afternoon....

To Mask, or Not to Mask!

That is the question........

And now, I am getting it from both directions.  "Make Masks Mandatory!" is the flavor from one side.

"Don't take away our Freedom--don't make masks mandatory!" is what I am hearing from the other side.

Meanwhile--the Escambia Board of County Commissioners does NOT have this for action at our upcoming meeting--(although it may be brought before the board as an "add-on" by a member.....)

Meanwhile, here is an example of a thoughtful back and forth email exchange between a constituent and I on this topic from this morning............intelligent, thoughtful, respectful, cordial, un-emotional..

"Mr. Bergosh,

Usually I write to you about XXXXXX. But tonight I am writing to you as someone retired from healthcare. Forty three years actually.  Thirty three of those running a clinical laboratory.  I have been through Aids, Ebola, Swine flu, and many other similar outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics.  So I am very familiar with what the right thing to do is regarding curbing the rising infections.  

 Mayor Robinson should be commended for implementing mandatory masks.   While our Governor and President do nothing.

The Governor's statement the other day stating people will just need to do the right thing stunned me. Well if people always did the right thing we wouldn't need laws.  It could even be said we wouldn't be in the middle of a pandemic if people did the right thing.  How many laws have been passed to protect people from themselves?  Wearing seat belts, no texting and driving, no drinking and driving.......to name a few.

I ask you and the other commissioners to please follow Mayor Robinson's lead.  Make face masks mandatory in Escambia county. There is absolutely no reason a business should have to shut down if only everyone would social distance and wear masks in public places.  South Korea and Japan are excellent examples of that.

Regards,

XXX XXXXXXX"

My response:

"XXX-

Thank you for the email, and I cannot wait until XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!

About the mask wearing:  There have been rumors circulating about The Escambia Board of County Commissioners making mask wearing mandatory—however this has not been brought forward onto our next agenda for July 2^nd by either the staff or the chairman Steven Barry.  I understand the city has gone that direction (mandatory mask wearing).

Nevertheless----I am studying all sides of this topic in the event it does come before us as an add on to the agenda.  Full disclosure—I am getting PASSIONATE pleas on both sides of this issue so I am going to look at this particular issue very analytically—not emotionally.

To help with my decision making—I will have a special “Coffee with the Commissioner” event this Wednesday morning online on my Facebook site from 6:30-7:30 AM.  My guests will be the CEO’s of all three local hospitals—Baptist, Sacred Heart, and West Florida.  They know I will come prepared with questions for them about the wear/don’t wear masks in public question—as well as other issues about capacity in their respective hospitals and ventilator and ICU capacity.  It will be a worthwhile watch this Wednesday morning if you are available.  It will be live on my commissioner’s Facebook page here  https://www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/

One issue that stands out initially and immediately to me is the fact that nobody is wearing masks properly—and nobody is specifying what types of masks should be worn.  They should be single-use---and the surgical masks I see folks wearing are not masks that protect the wearer from COVID-19-----it says so right on the box packaging.  Yet I see folks wearing these very same ineffective disposable masks over and over and over—placing them on the rear-view mirror then re-using them again and again—touching the contaminated masks then touching their faces as well as common use items in the grocery stores, retail stores, playground equipment, door-handles etc.  This behavior worries me—because I believe this actually exacerbates—not

Expert Panel Assembled for our 47th Coffee With the Commissioner Event this Wednesday Morning, July 1st!

As the spike in new cases of COVID-19 is erupting around Florida and other states like Texas and California---we are maintaining a fair amount of capacity in our local hospitals.

Ventilator capacity locally is 80%.

Bed capacity is about 25%

We simply have not seen hospitals being overrun with COVID-19 cases locally--thankfully.

We are getting a higher number of new positive cases, and younger people are coming up positive in higher numbers as well.

So this week for our 47th Coffee With the Commissioner Event--we age going back to the source for new insights, facts and figures about the pandemic's impacts locally on our 3 main hospitals.

We will focus on our area's response to the COVID-19 Pandemic and how our area hospitals are handling the current issues locally. 

Our guests for this live conversation will be Escambia County Administrator Janice Gilley, Baptist Health Care in Pensacola CEO Mark Faulkner, Dawn Rudolph, President and CEO of Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital Pensacola, Justin Labrato, President of Ascension Medical Group, and Gay Nord,  CEO Of West Florida Hospital.

I intend to ask about how the Hospitals are handling this pandemic locally, their current census figures, and how the number of available ICU beds is figuring into our area's "preparedness" for a spike in new cases-----if this leads to a spike in new hospital admissions.

I'll also ask about their surge plans; how will they react if we get an influx in new hospitalizations like the Houston area is seeing?

To wear or not to wear masks--I'll have some questions about that.

If you have questions for these experts---send them to me via email or Facebook---or add comments to this post and I will ask the questions of the experts this Wednesday.

To join the event live Wednesday morning, simply go to https://www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/

"See You" online this Wednesday!

Mask Wearing: Mixed Messaging Hasn't Helped

Since the very beginning of the current COVID-19 Pandemic--opinions have "shifted" among the experts about whether or not uninfected individuals should or should not wear masks.

At a late March Coffee with the Commissioner event with our local Director of the Health Department--I was astonished to hear that mask wearing was NOT recommended by the CDC for the general public.  Watch this video, see the comments yourself from minutes 11:00 to 13:00....

Subsequently, into April and May---when PPE was scarce--some outlets reported that the whole "Don't wear a mask" messaging by the healthcare industry and the media and by the CDC and local Health Departments --------was done simply to keep the average, ordinary citizen from "panic buying" all available N-95 Masks that were readily available at that time at places like Walgreens, Wal Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, and other outlets.  Toilet Paper shortages were bad enough--but if ordinary citizens thought they needed masks and would have bought them up, well that would have been catastrophic, right?!

PPE is still scarce--and it's expensive.

Regardless----more and more localities are mandating the wearing of masks.

Some are simply recommending they be worn.

The World Health Organization muddied the waters even further on the mask question by going back and forth on guidance on citizens wearing masks to prevent COVID-19.

The mixed signals sent by the Healthcare Industrial Complex on this topic have not helped!

Last weekend I was bombarded with requests that we NOT make mask wearing mandatory.

And this topic (mandatory mask wearing) was not and is not even on the agenda for our upcoming regular BCC meeting on July 2nd!! 

Some folks are very happy about this.

Others want it added and enacted--a mask-wearing ordinance.

But wait--there are specific steps that must be taken to enact an ordinance--including multiple public hearings.  Should we follow our own policy on making this an ordinance?  Or we could do it under emergency authority--but wait that has some pitfalls as well.   And inevitably it would be challenged in court.


Machinations + Manipulation + Mixed Messaging =  MESS!

46th Coffee--Pensacola Churches Poised for a Revival!

Could Escambia County see a renewed interest in religion, particularly among area youth, in the midst of this Pandemic?  Some encouraging signs point to the answer being "YES!"

Yesterday morning we held our 46th Coffee with the Commissioner event live on Zoom.

The focus:  The worldwide COVID-19 Pandemic and the devastation being caused to our way of life in America and how this all has impacted our county's faith-based community and our churches.

Our guests for the live stream were county administrator Janice Gilley, Hillcrest Baptist Church Senior Pastor Jim Locke, Marcus Pointe Baptist Church Senior Pastor Gordon Godfrey Jr., and from the Pensacola Bay Baptist Association, Executive Director Dr. Brian Nall. 

The panel engaged in a very interesting discussion about the impacts of the virus--financially and on attendance at church.

The surprising thing that was reported is/was the continuation of faithful giving to churches and the attendance gains among YOUNG people in the community.  Both of these reports were pleasant surprises to me--as cynically I worried attendance would decline further and financial giving to churches would nosedive.  I am so glad I was wrong--thankful to hear that the silver lining---at least at a few local churches--appears to be MORE interest in church now. 

Could we be headed into a period of Revival?  I hope so.  Our nation and our community needs it!

You can watch the Facebook Live video of the coffee here.

Watch the You tube video here 

Why is the State of Florida's Unemployment System STILL so Badly Broken?

Although the CARES act provided generous levels of financial compensation for Floridians, and the money has been released to Florida----too many Floridians have yet to see one dime of unemployment compensation.....Why?

We have all heard the horror stories about out-of-work Floridians trying desperately to navigate the state of Florida's badly broken unemployment system to access unemployment benefits.

Some people get their money---but a lot of people don't.  Through no fault of their own.
My own son was out of work for three months.  Thankfully, he is back to work and back at school.  Luckily, he had a place to stay and his essentials were covered--but he was out of work for more than three months!!  I know he completed all the required application forms--I helped him do it.  He never got one penny in unemployment.

And a lot of Floridians did not receive money while they were out of work--and  don't have any fallback position and/or parents who can help them through the shortfalls--they are desperate.

"I had to go to work doing landscape work--I couldn't get a dime in the unemployment I was owed" said the waiter at a restaurant where I dined recently.  "We were shut down, told to go home, and I had no income and yet I still had bills to pay!" he continued.  "I claim my tips, so with the Federal money they were supposed to send me I should be getting $4,000.00 dollars for my time out of a job--but I haven't received anything.  I go online and it just says 'pending'" he mused."

And then this morning I get this email from a young constituent:

"Good morning, 

My name is XXXXXX  XXXXXXXX. I have been laid off since March 26th 2020. I have yet to receive any help from the state and it says I’m approved and everything. I have used up all my savings, withdrew my 401k, and now I have 3 negative bank accounts accumulating over draft fees. I need help haven’t even paid rent this month. I’m not sure how some families are even still in their home or feeding them or their kids. 

Anything you can do to get us the back pay money would be so grateful! 

Thanks!

XXXXXXX  X."

What will it take to fix this busted system to get ALL FLORIDIANS the HELP they NEED?

46th Coffee With the Commissioner this Wednesday--Impacts of COVID-19 on Area Churches

We will be having our 46th Coffee with the Commissioner event live on Facebook this Wednesday morning from 6:30-7:30 AM

We will be discussing the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic locally. 

This week we will focus on the impacts this virus is having on our area's faith-based organizations and our churches. 

Our guests this week will be County Administrator Janice Gilley, Hillcrest Baptist Church Senior Pastor Jim Locke, Marcus Pointe Baptist Church Senior Pastor Gordon Godfrey, Jr., and Dr. Brian Nall, Executive Director of the Pensacola Bay Baptist Association.

To join the event live Wednesday morning, simply go to https://www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/

"See You" online this Wednesday!