Monthly Archives: October 2021

Antibody treatment’s use soars

Posted on by
Reply

Vaxxed and holdouts embrace therapy; experts debate use of therapy by vaccinated

A nurse enters a monoclonal antibody site, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021, at C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines. Numerous sites are open around the state offering monoclonal antibody treatment sold by Regeneron to people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Vaxxed and holdouts embrace therapy; experts debate use of therapy by vaccinated

It isn’t just people who are unvaccinated using Florida’s 25 monoclonal antibody treatment clinics, according to Florida officials.

About 45% of the more than 135,000 people who have received the COVID-19 treatment were fully vaccinated, state officials estimate. In parts of the state with higher vaccination rates, such as MiamiDade County, the percentage has been as much as 60%.

But do vaccinated people with breakthrough cases and mild symptoms need to get monoclonal antibody treatment? The question of who should be prioritized is drawing debate in the medical community. The pricey drug cocktail is free to patients but costs taxpayers about $2,100 a dose.

Patients should talk with their doctor, but people who are fully vaccinated and otherwise healthy don’t benefit much from getting the treatment if they develop a breakthrough case of COVID-19, said Michael Teng a virologist at the University of South Florida.

Continue reading →

Bikers roll into Daytona Beach as Biketoberfest 2021 kicks into gear

Posted on by
Reply

Thousands of bikers are packing Main Street in Daytona Beach for its annual Biketoberfest rally.

This year’s rally officially started Thursday with none of the COVID-19 restrictions that were in place last year.

“So far so good,” Biker Shirely Hill said. “We love what we are seeing. Everybody is very friendly and it’s been a good experience.”

The City of Daytona Beach did not issue permits for outside vendors last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. THey even restricted capacity inside certain venues during Bike Week in March.

However, this time around, things are in full throttle.

“I feel like with everything being open today, it’s already better than some of the weekend days last year,” Biker James Black said.

The four-day rally is expected to bring more than 125,000 bikers to the area.

State reports 2,124 new cases, adds 887 to total death toll

Posted on by
Reply

Florida reported 2,124 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and increased its total death count by 887, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The new deaths came over the past couple of weeks because deaths are counted on the day they occur, not the day they are reported. It can take two weeks or more for a death to be reflected in the data and state has been releasing the death counts twice a week.

The average for new cases is down to 3,052 as of Tuesday and the average for deaths based on the date reported was 240. There have been 3,611,767 confirmed cases of COVID in the state and at least 57,300 Floridians have died since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitalizations have been dropping since they peaked in mid-August. As of Tuesday, 3,307 patients were in Florida hospitals with COVID-19, a 27.5% decline from the previous week and the fewest patients since mid-July.

Continue reading →

Residents back Seminole’s takeover of 2 golf courses

Posted on by
Reply

A majority of Seminole County homeowners living near the shuttered Deer Run Country Club showed enthusiastic support for county plans to convert the former golf course into a public park, voting to create a special taxing district to help transform and preserve the area.

About 67% of property owners surrounding the former golf course voted in favor of forming a municipal service benefit unit, or MSBU, which will charge 2,273 homes either $130 or $65 a year — depending on proximity to the new park — for 15 years. A well-organized group of volunteers in the area helped mobilize the effort, called Save Deer Run, securing just over 1,600 petitions, almost 95% in favor of the initiative.

Continue reading →

Apostasy: The Unforgivable Sin – (Mark 3:20-35)

Posted on by
Reply

Now for this morning, we want you to turn to Mark chapter 3 in your Scripture. We’re a little behind, and I’ve got an awful lot to say. So, be patient, and we’re going to try to unpack a really critical portion of Scripture.

Mark chapter 3, and our text for this morning starts in verse 20 and goes down to the end of the chapter. We did part one last time, and we’ll comment on that in a little big, and then we’re going to do part two and kind of wrap it up this morning. The theme of this particular section is the unforgivable sin. The unforgivable sin.

Now, drop down to verse 28 for a moment, and let’s at least identify this as the core of our study this morning. Jesus is speaking here, and He says, “Truly I say to you” – by the way, that little formula “truly I say to you” never appears in the book of Acts, never appears in the epistles of the New Testament; it only appears in the lips of Jesus. It seems to have been a phrase that He used to identify something that had very significant meaning and was in fact a representation of divine truth that needed to be heard. “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”

Continue reading →

Jon Gruden resigns as Raiders coach after more leaked emails reveal homophobic language

Posted on by
Reply

Jon Gruden is out as the Raiders’ head coach. Gruden has informed his staff he is resigning from his position in the wake of leaked emails in which he repeatedly used insensitive language, as NFL Media first reported and CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora confirmed.

Continue reading →