We’re now 10 months into the COVID 19 pandemic, and Attorney Joe Zarzaur and Dr. Evan Malone talk to us about some things that are happening on the vaccine front, County statistics, variant strain, and post COVID infection immunity.
Vaccine Distribution Update
Dr. Malone, can you give us an update as to where we are locally with the vaccine administration? I think there was a sort of a tier process that prioritizes the at-risk people first, the older at-risk people, and the healthcare practitioners are the first tier.
Dr. EM – So, what was the next addition to the healthcare workers is the 65 and older population and then there’s all comers. In fact, in Escambia County, you don’t even need to be a resident of the County, you can get online and go to the to the County online portal, which we can go ahead fill out it’s like a five-page survey monkey questionnaire. You are either put on a waiting list or you’re given an appointment time. There’s one vaccination location in Escambia County one in Santa Rosa County.
Escambia DOH Vaccine Request Form
Vaccine
Request Form:
County Statistics
Dr. EM – If you remember back in June and July, we were afraid to get to 100 new cases per day. Escambia County still has a large number and Santa Rosa county is still in the 200 range. The percentage positivity is where we’ve stabilized. And I’ll just add that if you see that 52% on there, that was basically statewide.
FL County Data –
JZ – What is the hospitalization numbers for Escambia County?
Dr EM –
268 hospital beds available
17 ICU beds available
142 ventilators
Variant Strain
JZ – 22 variants have been identified in Florida, which is the next highest state to California with 32. Why is that significant? Well, and that’s why I pulled this up.
Dr. EM – This is a CDC release. The only thing that we know that significant right now is that it spreads more easily. As far as the illness, it causes your ability to recover and your ability to treat for it as well as your ability to vaccinate against it. To the best of our knowledge right now, there’s no difference, which is good news. There is a lot greater chance they could become infected. The rate is potentially 70% greater.
I don’t know what the other variables there were like the age of the individuals who got infected and either other illnesses that they were dealing with. But they’re finding that it’s a less severe illness when you do get this infection with the variant. So that may be the silver lining.
Post Covid-19 Infection Immunity
JZ – An article found late last week indicated that COVID 19 immunity lasts may last up to years for some people that are affected.
Dr. EM – The article basically says that the study found that most people think that if they don’t have the antibody, they cannot be immune post infection. The antibody is a small part of our immune response to something. So, when your antibodies levels go away, they’re thinking that you have in your memory T cells and other parts of this whole cascade that can wake back up and then release more antibodies. They’re finding that, that the features of the coronavirus that they’ve studied are similar to a lot of the other viruses. The T cells and the memory cells are going to remember in elicit help against getting infected. There’s a lot of data that’s coming out.
Immunity Articles
Got a question for Dr. Malone or Joe? Message us or email us at info@zarzaurlaw.com
The Zarzaur Law firm remains fully operational and the staff is working hard on client’s behalf (safely and remotely). Attorneys will still be seeing clients either safely in office or via video conferencing.
Joe Zarzaur, a board certified civil trial lawyer and founder of Zarzaur Law, P.A., a Pensacola Personal Injury law firm, has created this video blog in an effort to educate the many citizens and visitors of Pensacola and Destin, Florida about their legal rights.
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