It’s March. Kinda crazy right? In addition to there actually being March Madness, my first takeaway isn’t merely an observation that it’s March.
It’s what’s going on and what’s about to happen with profound implications to all of us. Starting with local elections. We’re now into municipal election season in South Florida. Tomorrow, there’s a special election in Medley. A week from tomorrow five municipalities in Broward and 19 in Palm Beach County will hold elections. Are you informed? Are you engaged? Do you even know if your municipality is one of them? The past year has shown the importance of local elections.
Last November, 77% of eligible Floridians voted. Historically municipal elections in South Florida average around 18% participation. I’m looking for, and hoping, that the wakeup call of the past year will help bridge that gap considerably. Regardless, it’s important that you not take these races for granted. Get informed and go vote.
Second takeaway, downhill from here? Odds are yes. Two weeks ago I mentioned that we’ve turned the corner on the pandemic. This was driven by the knowledge of the traditional flu season peaking on February 15th along with the continued vaccine rollout. Florida’s still averaging thousands of new cases daily, so it’s critical that we don’t get careless now, but the news continues to get better. We enter March with Florida averaging the fewest daily cases since November 14th and the proliferation of vaccines about to take hold after Saturday’s FDA approval for the one-dose J&J COVID vaccine.
On Friday. where I had a conversation which greatly changed my perspective on things. FIU’s infectious disease expert, Dr. Aileen Marty, who is one of the top experts in the world, threw some cold water on the J&J vaccine. After we heard of the seemingly improved efficacy, which wasn’t too far behind Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and with only one dose, I’d thought it would become the preferred candidate. Instead, Dr. Marty told me she thinks it should be a two-dose schedule as well and made clear she feels the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are superior at this point. You can do with that what you will, but my takeaway was that the J&J vaccine is a nice addition, but not on par with what’s already available.
Photo by: Brian Spurlock -USA TODAY Sports