The Fastest Spreading Disease in Florida & DST’s Impact on Your Health - Top Three Takeaways – March 11th, 2024
- The infectious period. I want to start with today’s takeaways where I ended with them on Friday. This is due to something that appears to be every bit as contagious as Measels. Alarmist reporting that commonly condemns Florida’s Surgeon General Dr. Jospeh Ladapo and Governor DeSantis – while hyping worst case scenarios about what could happen with the spread of the disease to the potentially vulnerable (and that shows no sign of ending – even though the number of new cases in Florida – only ten - has for two weeks). And the perhaps even more alarming perspective of the medical establishment. On Friday I highlighted that we’d reached the end of the original measles “outbreak” infectious period in Florida. That happened last Thursday. Have you seen or heard this reported anywhere (other than from me) - because I haven’t? Facts in the reporting of news matter, right? They always do here but perhaps only when they fit narratives elsewhere. To recap...As noted by Florida’s Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo in a much-critiqued note to parents of students attending Weston's Manatee Bay Elementary School... In that note sent to parents February 20th, Ladapo noted that the end of the infectious period based on the original cases was March 7th. We’re now four days removed from the original infectious period and there hasn’t been a newly reported case of measles in Florida in two weeks. Will this be the end of it in Florida for now? I don’t know but I do think you should know the facts. And then there’s the eye-opening dynamic I began to share with you last week.
- The view of the medical establishment. Was anything learned by the medical establishment by getting COVID wrong? Nope. Do DeSantis and Ladapo get credit for getting it right? With rank and file voters, yes. With the medical establishment and most news outlets – no. And on that note, here’s an exchange I began to bring you on Friday. It started when I received a note from a prominent South Florida infectious disease doctor following a recent Q&A: Your commentary about Measles in Florida is despicable. You completely missed the most important point. The ten cases are not the issue. The issue is how hideously contagious it is. Every infected person will Infect 12 - 18 others. Do that math. There are 10 infected patients in Florida. The vaccination rate is 90%. There are 4.3M children in Florida. That means there are 430,000 vulnerable children in the state. The incubation period is 21 days. The important point is we may be at the start of outbreak that will infect many more children. Measles is deadly. The disease was eradicated from the US in 2000. There should be no Measles in the US at all. This is precisely why we need to mandate vaccination and censor the antivaxx movement. My response: First, what I provided wasn't commentary but rather an analysis. I challenge you to find any factual inaccuracy. Second, the incubation period isn't 21 days. The longest possible incubation period is 21 days. You're exaggerating. Third, while in principle I agree that hesitancy to measles vaccinations is off base, nothing is more despicable than calling for censorship of dissenting perspectives in a country founded on freedom of expression. His response to my response: Its not that the numbers you stated are inaccurate, it's that you did not project the likely outcome three weeks from now. You wrote about the outbreak today. It's what will happen tomorrow that you avoided. When referring to incubation periods, the maximal range must always be stated. The incubation period is up to 21 days. 300,000 to 400,000 Americans died unnecessarily due to refusal to be vaccinated. 2,000 continue to die weekly. Nearly all un or under vaccinated. Much of the COVID vaccine misinformation and other vaccine misinformation originates in the troll farms of foreign adversaries and is amplified by antivaxxers. This is an attack on our nation. Just as we censored Tokyo Rose, We must censor those who spread medical misinformation that kills Americans in genocidal numbers. Public health supersedes individual liberty including freedom of speech. Physicians who spread misinformation that leads to harm are guilty of professional misconduct and must be held accountable and disciplined. Just as we do not tolerate deviation from the standard of care in the hospital medical staff, we must not tolerate physicians who deviate from the standard of care in public. We are obligated to share only current best evidence from the peer reviewed medical literature. Ladapo and DeSantis have set the stage for more carnage in Florida. Nearly 95,000 Floridians died of COVID, many unnecessarily. The likelihood is Florida's Measles outbreak will increase significantly and spread, children will suffer harm unnecessarily. That's the story. Did you catch all of that? It’s hard to know where to begin, isn’t it? During the course of my career I’ve received death threats. I once had a stalker. But the most chilling note I’ve ever received is that one because of what it represents. The most alarming response I’ve ever received is: Public health supersedes individual liberty including freedom of speech. I failed to find that provision in the first amendment. Again, that was from a prominent South Florida infectious disease doctor. This is what objective dissemination of information is up against. What we aren’t up against are any additional cases of measles in Florida.
- Slow your roll. Maybe one day the world will make sense and we’ll acknowledge that there are 24 hours in every day as opposed to a year being comprised of 363 with 24 hours, one with 23 and another with 25. Today is not that day. And for that reason, on the back of Sunday’s time change, today is a day to be cautious as it is one of the most dangerous days of the year. History shows that today, thanks to said unscientific time change, there will be a large increase in car accidents, workplace injuries, heart attacks and miscarriages. All byproducts of us being tired and stressed on the first weekday after entering Daylight Saving Time. And just how much more at risk are we of those things today... Today there’s a 24% increase in heart attacks over the typical Monday. We have an 11% increase in clinical depression cases (this exacerbates by any preexisting issues including and tendencies including those already suffering from cogitative issues – so beware of Biden today), there’s an 8% increase in stroke risk and 3% increase in contracting diseases (the body’s immune system isn’t as resistant when we’re sleep deprived). Other than that, it’s all gravy today. Now you might ask yourself why would a society do this to itself? That’s a good question, given that the premise of the time changes was to save energy – which as I illustrated on Friday – no longer even happens. It may not be as dumb as a country opening its border and using taxpayer resources to relocate criminals from other countries to its communities – but it’s close. Both cause unnecessary harm to our society. Maybe, hopefully, Senators Rubio and Scott will make headway with the Sunshine Protection Act making this the last time change we collectively suffer through.