Itโs March. Kinda crazy right? In addition to there actually being March Madness, my first takeaway isnโt merely an observation that itโs March.
Itโs whatโs going on and whatโs about to happen with profound implications to all of us. Starting with local elections. Weโre now into municipal election season in South Florida. Tomorrow, thereโs 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. Iโm looking for, and hoping, that the wakeup call of the past year will help bridge that gap considerably. Regardless, itโs 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 weโve 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. Floridaโs still averaging thousands of new cases daily, so itโs critical that we donโt 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 Saturdayโs FDA approval for the one-dose J&J COVID vaccine.
On Friday. where I had a conversation which greatly changed my perspective on things. FIUโs 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 wasnโt too far behind Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and with only one dose, Iโd 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 whatโs already available.
Photo by: Brian Spurlock -USA TODAY Sports