How Many Citizens in Escambia County are Dying and Have Died from COVID-19?

Last May, the State of Florida has stopped sending out detailed statistics on deaths from COVID-19 at the County level.  In May and into June--it appeared that the Pandemic was waning, folks were being vaccinated, and things were looking up.

Then starting in early July--the Delta variant ravaged the state and Escambia County.

Our hospitalizations locally from COVID-19 surged to a high of nearly 400 patients. (100 more than the previous surge a year prior)

And folks we know have died and continue to die.  More this past week.  We've lost 4 county Staff members to COVID.

Yet, the state did not resume reporting the deaths by county as the Delta surge took hold.  

So I started asking for the number.  

I asked at least three times at public meetings over a period of 6 weeks.  I asked staff to work with hospitals to get the number--if the state kept stonewalling.  Lots of red tape, lots of explanations about why it couldn't be done.  

But I kept asking.

Yesterday-- late in the afternoon--- Marie Mott from the Dept. of Health in Escambia County sent commissioners some information on the cumulative deaths in Escambia County from COVID-19, along with the following message:

"Attached is a screenshot of the CDC Covid-19 death counts for Escambia County. This number appears to be cumulative, and I have been unsuccessful at using this database tools to filter for specific time periods. It is important to note that these data are displayed by location of death, not residence. Since our local hospitals provide care for residents of several surrounding counties, I suspect that the number shown for Escambia County is inaccurately high. In my effort to investigate this suspicion, I have learned that the Department of Health is working with the CDC to correct this matter. I will continue to update you as I learn more.   Deaths from all causes: 9,266.  Deaths involving COVID-19: 1,079."

This is a start, and I thanked Marie personally for sending the information.

But we really need to see this count, daily, chronologically, over time horizontally,  so we can put this current surge into context which will assist us in perhaps getting more citizens vaccinated locally--or to at least understand the gravity and seriousness of this situation.  I'm staying on it because we deserve this data and the citizens want it.

64th Coffee with the Commissioner: Talking COVID-19 Surge with Executives from all 3 Area Hospitals

Virtual Event, Next District 1 Coffee with the Commissioner Aug. 11

Join District 1 Commissioner Jeff Bergosh at his virtual 64th Coffee with the Commissioner event Wednesday, Aug. 11. The live stream will take place from 6:30 - 7:30 a.m. To join the meeting, go to the following Facebook page and watch the live stream: www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/. 

Attendees will include Interim County Administrator Wes Moreno, Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore, Baptist Hospital Senior Vice President Scott Raynes, Ascension Sacred Heart President Dawn Rudolph and West Florida Hospital Chief Executive Officer Gay Nord. The discussion will focus on the COVID-19 Delta variant and its impact on our community, hospitals and medical staff.

Residents are encouraged to send virtual questions and comments they would like to discuss with District 1 Commissioner during the event through Facebook. 

Baptist Hospital Issues a Press Release Regarding the Recent Increase in New Coronavirus Hospitalizations Locally

 The below news release was sent out by the County's CMR office on behalf of Baptist Hospital this aafternoon--the Pensacola area is seeing a sharp increase in the number of Coronavirus Hospitalizations:

COVID-19 in our Area--What's the Current Status at the Hospitals?

Panic citizens and they will consume what you are selling and disregard the financial manipulations and machinations occurring in our capitol that will have massive negative economic consequences for our nation for generations to come....

With national news broadcasts stoking the flames of fear and worry by reporting daily about the "Delta Variant" of COVID-19---some in our area are rightly concerned about a resurgence here.

The sneaky way actual facts are portrayed by the national media are apparently designed to scare the average citizen into a state of continuous panic---a tactic that takes a lot of concern, worry, and attention off of the printing presses in Washington DC--- which are churning out more and more debt from thin air daily.  Trillions and Trillions and Trillions....so keep folks worried and paniked, maybe they'll disregard the slow motion train wreck our national budgeting/monetay policy is becomming?  Surprise--they will and they do----- it works!  😏  Oh, and also, just to put a button on that--the media disavow and completely delegitimize the recognized, rational concept of inflation. They do it by omission----ignoring any mention of it in their coverage.   Nifty, right?  

So here's how they make it happen--here's their cookbook recipe:  1.) Find a city or area that is having an uptick in COVID -19 Delta Variant cases, 2.) show exhausted, demoralized hospital workers describing the conditions in that particular area, carefully and only talking PERCENTAGE increases in hospitalizations in such local areas-- and for the "coup de gras"--3.) conflate the local nature of the story's topic by throwing in the TOTAL NUMBER of new cases daily NATIONALLY at the very end of the one minute, thirty second package piece---and BANG---you've created a crisis!

Some out of touch, confused citizens that watch David Muir daily are probably bamboozled and actually concerned we're having 18,000 cases daily here in Florida!!....

And some constituents  have asked me about it, too--as some of the reporting on numbers, testing, and positivity seems to have been diminished locally.

So what is happening, right now, in the hospitals of Escambia County?

To find out--I called someone in the know, a well positioned hopital executive with whom I speak from time to time.  I called this individual to get the truth and to cut through the drama and the spin our media churns out nonstop on this topic beause it's a ratings bonanza to keep it roiling......

"Jeff, we are seeing an uptick locally, but nothing like what we had back in January and February."  He went on to describe that the numbers of hospitalizations have increased--but "only in the single digits..."

"We are not out of the single digits with patients hospitalized with COVID right now."  he stated.

When I asked him his assessment of the situation overall, he was optimistic.  "The only people we are seeing now, coming in needing hospitalization and the smaller numbers who are dying--- are those who are not vaccinated....everyone can get the vaccination now so it is a totally different situation than we had before-----much more manageable."

Yes, COVID-19 is real.  YES we are having an uptick locally but it is NOTHING like what we had at the beginning of the year.  The key difference is the vaccines.  They work, and they are working.

But they don't work for those who choose to remain "unvaccinated."