Top Three Takeaways – October 11th, 2021

Top Three Takeaways – October 11th, 2021

1. Still no college football super spreaders. While the biggest news in college football over the weekend involved the Crimson Tide getting rolled by the Aggies, perhaps the most important one continues to be what hasn’t been happening in the stands...superspreading of COVID-19. Despite the Fauch’s warnings at the onset of the season that packing fans into stands would lead to super spreading, it just hasn’t happened. And while that’s true nationally, we now have Florida specific info in-hand. As in, from The Swamp. The University of Florida has been watched closely this season as The Swamp has averaged 90,000 fans for home games with no vaccine requirements, no social-distancing and most certainly no masks. And guess what’s happened? Nothing. Other than fans cheering on the Gators as though the pandemic wasn’t happening. And not only have no outbreaks been attributed to the games, as it pertains to the student body, new COVID-19 cases are down dramatically compared to last fall’s semester. Though Friday a total of 784 students, or 16 per day, had tested positive on campus for COVID-19 out of a population exceeding 53,000. Last school year a total of approximately 12,000 students tested positive for the virus on campus, or about 44 per day. In other words, the University of Florida’s rate of COVID-19 transmitting is down 64% this semester with in-person education, tailgating and a packed stadium – featuring no mandates. Of all the data points which illustrate just how full of it the Fauches of the world are, the University of Florida’s case study might be the most compelling. Now contrast what’s happening at UF with the nonsense happening in South Florida’s still lawless school districts imposing mask mandates without parental optouts in violation of state law. Speaking of which...
2. It really can’t be overstated how absurd South Florida’s school districts continue to be. After being granted 48 hours to come into compliance with state law regarding school mask mandate policies, or face financial sanctions, after Thursday's Board of Education hearing found Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County school districts have been violating state law by refusing parental rights... All three districts changed nothing. Broward and Dade decided to join a suit with four other districts, for a third time, once again wasting taxpayer money to fight a lawsuit to attempt to somehow find a way to violate parental rights. This is the school district version of wasting your money coming and going. They’re wasting your money so they can violate state law and violate your rights. That’s remarkable for all of the wrong reasons. I’ll remind you to check your property tax assessments and gain a full understanding of what you’re paying these districts – from the roof over your family’s head. 
3. Better than it sounded. Friday’s employment report wasn’t all bad news after all. Yes, there’s an issue with workers dropping out of the workforce. Yes, new job growth is far lower than it should be in a recovery, but dive deeper into the data and you’ll see some positives. Namely, 169,000 jobs were added previously but missed by the initial government surveys. Those who were long-term unemployed, marginally attached to the workforce and those who had been underemployed made meaningful progress during the month...and... Wage inflation managed to keep up with the pace of overall inflation during the month – so at least those working full-time are generally not falling further behind. So yeah, the jobs report was better than it sounded.