District 1 Vaccination Event Tomorrow!

A COVID-19 Vaccination event happens tomorrow in Bellview from 8:00AM-2:00PM for eligible citizens.

A pop-up vaccination clinic event will occur tomorrow from 8:00AM-2:00PM in Escambia County's District 1 at Pine Summit Baptist Church.  The church is located in Bellview, at 2920 Bellview Avenue, Pensacola, FL 32526.

The COVID-19 Vaccine will be administered to citizens 65 and older and healthcare workers who need the shot.  There will be a total of 350 doses available for this event.  The vaccine is free of charge for citizens.

Those citizens interested and eligible to receive the shot must call to reserve a time by calling 

850-439-3358.

This event is being supported and sponsored by Community Health Northwest Florida.

What About the Judges?

 

I asked rhetorically at our last Commission Meeting:  When will our state's Judges under age 65 be offered COVID-19 Vaccination?

As the efforts to vaccinate the maximum number of citizens nationwide accelerates, some very essential workers are apparently being overlooked.  Of course, everybody knows the most vulnerable citizens, in care homes, immunocompromised, and over 65 years of age needed the shot yesterday.  And locally we are hitting that target, with greater than 50% of the citizens over 65 being inoculated against COVID-19.

But now as I read about the next group of citizens eligiblefor shots—including teachers and some other professions with members over age 50—I still don’t see the state’s Judges listed.

They really have nobody pulling for them. Apparently, nobody is advocating for them.  I certainly don’t speak for them---but I am writing this because I believe there may be a HUGE glaring blind-spot that’s shifting focus away from this essential, yet miniscule, cohort of essential state workers.

Judges.

They get overlooked all the time; folks really don’t think about them.  It is esoteric, what they do and how they do it.  When important ceremonies occur, they don’t get the invite.  When they happen to attend important functions—I have witnessed hosts of such events trip over themselves to recognize every other elected official in attendance in such venues—and NOT recognize judges.  They are oftentimes an afterthought--unless one is summoned to appear before a judge. They’re severely restricted in what they can do socially, what they can say politically, and how they must comport themselves publicly.  Most folks do not realize what a person gives up in terms of privacy and privileges when he/she becomes a Judge.  But that’s a whole different topic.  I would certainly have not known much about judges and what they do had my only brother not become one.  But I do have a unique vantage point though- in that my brother has been a circuit court judge here locally for nearly the last decade and a half.  And we talk frequently.  Multiple times weekly.

So far as I have been told—the 16 judges seated in Escambia County under age 65 have not been offered the shot.  “Well why should they get one?”, folks might question sternly.

Here is an example of why:  Just one, and it is personal.   I am hyper-attenuated to this pandemic as one of my closest, best friends, Brad Crager, died of COVID-19 in January.  He was healthy, yet it took him out after an agonizing 2-week hospitalization out in Southern California.  We worked together when I was in college, we were friends for over 30 years. He was like a brother to me.

Then, last week, my only real brother, Gary,  fell ill.  My only brother.  He got really sick.  Fever, chills, and a high temperature.  He was out of it.  He had not/has not been inoculated for COVID-19.  I was worried.

But looking beyond my own concern for a loved one—this illness and related several days quarantine for the COVID-19 test’s results to come back meant 60 jury trials on his docket had to be cancelled.  Sixty of them.  Attorneys, defendants, witnesses, victims, jurors, and public officials were all delayed.  Attorneys from around the country had to reshuffle their schedules, support staff, security-everyone’s schedule was upended.  What about folks scheduled to appear who took personal leave from their jobs to attend?  Now, they will have to take even more precious, valuable leave for these rescheduled trials.

Prisoners in our jail that may have been released—had to stay in Jail.

How much did this one, minor, three-day delay cost?  Who knows, but it costs a lot.

Thankfully, my brother is fine, he tested negative and he is back on the bench.  Had he been given the

Who Should Administer the COVID-19 Vaccines Locally?

If we have to pay to do it locally--it is in our best interests to hire multiple outlets
to administer the COVID-19 vaccines.  It is not in the citizens' best interests
for the county to do an exclusive, sole-source procurement
with only ONE (1) of several qualified providers locally.  That's why tonight
we are NOT doing a sole-source deal.......

We all heard about Operation Warp Speed.

We heard the military would start mass-vaccinations nationwide.

Then we heard the state would handle the vaccinations.

But then reality hit.  

About two weeks back the Florida Department of Health in Escambia County and Escambia County administration had a tense conversation at which point it was made clear that the local state Health Department did not have the capacity to administer the vaccinations locally.

The rollout thus far has been a massive cluster.

Escambia County at the local level is going to have to step in and pay hospitals and/or other entities to do it---otherwise citizen outrage will continue to roil to a boiling point and there won't be an orderly rollout.

One of the hospitals has now presented us with this contract.  It mirrors contracts this particular Hospital Corporation is using to vaccinate in other markets as well, to include Santa Rosa County.

As I stated in last weeks blog post--why are we paying for this?

But getting past this frustration and the botched state rollout of this vaccination program--why would we ever do what appears to be an exclusive deal with just one of our local hospitals/clinics that can and want to help in the administration of these vaccines?

Answer--we shouldn't do this, we shouldn't do sole-source procurements for these services.

So at tonight's meeting we will bring an updated version of this contract that makes it clear that this $3.5 Million is a total of a currently allocated "pool" of money to be utilized for the express purpose of providing vaccinations to uninsured in the county AND that we are not doing an exclusive deal with ANY one hospital;  this is a NON-EXCLUSIVE agreement and the county can and will add other vendors that choose to participate locally into this program allowing them to vaccinate under the same terms, conditions, stipulations and reimbursement rates from this "pool" of money as in this first contract.

For us as Escambia County to do anything else makes no sense.... I mean--why would we want to limit the number of hospitals, clinics, and/or other licensed and qualified county-approved facilities that we will enlist and pay to provide vaccinations--- if we are truly interested in getting the maximum number of vaccinations out to our citizens as quickly as possible?

We should expand the supply channels not narrow them with exclusive, 1-outlet deals.

This is why we won't do an exclusive deal with one provider, and we will fix this contract tonight before it is approved so that multiple providers, if they so choose, can participate and vaccinate and draw down the $3.5 Million for providing the vaccine to the uninsured citizens.

Anger Mounts over Vaccine Rollout Strategy Cluster....

Anger is quickly building among constituents who are frustrated over the inability to get clear guidance on how to get a COVID-19 vaccination shot in Escambia County.

The state's rollout of this vaccination program here has been a cluster.  And that is being polite.

It's a goat rope.

Constituents in Escambia County are not happy about it either.  My office is getting irate phone calls and emails of complete and utter frustration over the State's vaccination strategy.

"Nobody answers when I call the published number!"

"I call and then a recording says go online to sign up--but I called because I do not have internet access!"

"Nobody can tell me when or where to go to get my vaccination"

These are common complaints that I am getting because our office answers the phone calls and responds to the emails.

Emails look like this:

“The Vaccination roll-out has been a complete cluster. I would hope that the commissioners will address this during tomorrow's meeting. I can't think of any agenda item that could be more important then the health of Escambia County citizens.

I 'finally' got through to the Escambia Dept of Health today (Wednesday). Obviously they are overrun w/calls. According to staff, they are being kept in the dark, like the rest of us us. There seems to be no 'real' plan in the county or the state of Florida. If this is the plan, it needs to changed, because this is not working. We call or sign up at the link and don't get a reply or anything, except an auto-thank you, so we don't know if we are registered or not. Why not have a Website/Online Tool or something, so we can see register and where we are in line, rather then having to constantly search for updates and hope to get an idea of when the next vaccination clinic is? There were months to prepare, but it appears like there was no plan. It would be great to see a brainstorming discussion at the BOCC Meeting where ideas are tossed around. Not 2 weeks from now, but asap.”

and this:

“Dear Sir:

As a SENIOR CITIZEN in Escambia County, I am dismayed at how I am being treated in regard to Covid Vaccinations.  I am asking you to please tell the SENIOR CITIZENS of Escambia County a truthful, realistic, expeditious way in which we can register for and receive our Covid Vaccinations? It is unconscionable that we have gotten nothing but jibber jabber from the appropriate agencies in our county.  These are the very same agencies that are here to “protect and cater to our SENIOR CITIZENS.”  I THINK NOT...My husband and I have been calling constantly, day and night, to the agencies and phone numbers provided. There is no way to get through; the line rings “busy” every time.  And the website recommended is not even up-and-running.  And yet thousands of vaccinations have been given. How did those people get appointments?   Certainly not using the phone numbers and websites dispersed to the public by health officials and Emergency Management. Not providing us with a viable and fair way to register for and receive the Covid Vaccination is disrespectful of our esteemed ELDERS, detrimental to our health, and actually, quite shameful!  I hope that there is a logical resolution to this problem and that ALL CITIZENS of Escambia County can fairly and straight-forwardly receive our inoculations.”

Yeah, so folks are mad.

I'm now told that even despite all of the state's problems---some way, somehow, The State Department of Health in Escambia County still has managed to compile a "list" of about 10,000 residents that have reached out to them wanting vaccination.  But the state has told our staff they cannot handle the logistics of distributing the vaccines.  So now this is falling on us to fund--as I pointed out last week.

We're jumping in with a solution that will maximize the county's various distribution channels to move the vaccines locally and get as many citizens the shot as possible--that will be approved at tonight's meeting.

Wait--We're Going to Pay Nearly $4+ Million in County Funds for WHAT?

 

Will we spend nearly $4 Million and 
"name select" a hospital to inject vaccines
to the general public locally--or should
the state and federal budgets absorb this cost?

As we move through the holidays toward an end to an incredibly tumultuous 2020--the hits keep coming.

And I'm not talking about songs on the Billboard Charts.

I'm talking hits as in gut-punches and body blows.  Uppercuts and elbows to the face. Knees to the groin and spinning backfists to the temple and head.

First, we were hit with COVID 19 which infected 20,000 + residents, killed nearly 360 local citizens, and decimated spring-early summer tourism in our area. Poof, it was gone. (the revenue-NOT the virus)

Throughout the summer, citizens were laid off, businesses struggled, and the economy plugged along uneasily.

Next, we received significant damage from Hurricane Sally in September.  And as a result the county had to front $70 Million for debris hauling.  And although we will receive a majority of this money back in reimbursement from FEMA (75%) and the State (12%)---we will still be on the hook for            $ millions that remain after the reimbursements.  And the reimbursements, well--let's just say they are not always very timely.  As a case in point-I'm told by staff we received some reimbursements owed from IVAN (September, 2004) as recently as just two years ago in 2018.  Just saying.....

And yet early on in 2020--things were looking so great--we even received $8 Million in general fund eligible "found" money as a residual from the BP Oil Spill settlement.  It came as a pleasant, welcome surprise to all of us--out of the clear blue sky.  It was awesome and we all had plans and designs on how we'd spend this windfall in our respective districts.  It was great for about a month.  Don't worry though---that $8 million is gone now, that and then some.  Thanks 2020.  Vaporized into thin air.

And then--FDOT's bridge project went haywire in the wake of Sally-- as their contractor improperly secured dozens of barges--according to multiple law firms and the PNJ-- that subsequently took out the 3-mile bridge--effectively killing many small businesses in Gulf Breeze and vaporizing our early fall business at the area's beaches.  Don't worry though:--we are told FDOT will break with tradition and "do whatever is necessary" to actually complete something on time; they keep saying March 2021 the span damaged by their contractors' barges will be "fixed."  We will see about that---trust me I want to believe that.  Like Fox Mulder's famous office wall-hanging poster--"I want to believe."  I think it will be more like June-July------if things go perfectly from this point forward.  I hope I'm wrong and that FDOT will actually be able to hit a deadline.   I hope I'm wrong and FDOT is right.  We will all see in March, I guess.

We're told FDOT will have the 3-Mile
bridge repaired in March......

But now, after all of the above  (and much more I'm not even bothering to mention) comes word of another unexpected, contentious, out-of- thin air multi-million dollar expenditure we are going to be asked to approve in our first meeting of 2021.  That's right folks--nearly $4 Million dollars are going to be requested of the BCC to pay our local hospitals to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to our area's general population.

But Wait--why are we being asked to pay for this--isn't the state getting money from the FEDS for this?  What about the Army?  What about the "Operation Warp Speed" distribution plan? What about the health department? Isn't the National Guard going to be deployed to vaccinate the public?  Why wouldn't the hospitals be paid/reimbursed directly for this by the FEDS?  Aren't these hospitals already being reimbursed directly for COVID-19 related increased costs?  Too many questions.  

Our $57 Million in CARES act money is programmed and spent already--so where is the additional nearly $4 Million more supposed to come from--------and why are we doing this--paying for this locally?

I'm told that counties around the state, including one nearby to our east, are proactively paying their local hospital corporations (nonprofits and for profits) millions of dollars as their vaccination agents. Our neighboring county has put aside $2.4 Million for this express purpose I have been told.  So this is putting pressure on us to do likewise--is the justification I have heard.

My late mom, God rest her soul, had an apropos saying she used to throw at my brother and I when we were about to make bad choices based upon peer pressure.  "If Joey decides to jump off the cliff--are you going to jump off a cliff, too?"

Of course we want everyone to be vaccinated--we care about the health and safety of our citizens.  But again I ask--why do we have to shoulder this burden locally with local funds--this should be a FED and State cost, right?  I mean, the Federal Treasury is printing money at breakneck speed, the presses are smoking they are moving so fast as we quickly surpass $30 Trillion in debt.  So I have a hard time believing that some of that cheddar is not "supposed" to go to paying for citizen vaccinations.

"Yo, Adrian, we can't take any more
budgetary face-punches!"

This whole topic will be generating some discussion at the meeting.  Some pointed questions are coming that will require some cogent answers.  Because as of right now--we can't spend any more than we've spent already.  2020 has been one catastrophe on top of another, one punch to the head after another; we can't take any more blows to the head or else we'll get "knocked out!"