What Florida’s ‘stay at home’ order means for residents

/in /by

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Starting on Friday, a sweeping “stay at home” order will go into effect for the entire state of Florida.

According to the executive order issued on Wednesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, “all persons in Florida shall limit their movements and personal interactions outside of their home to only those necessary to obtain or provide essential services or conduct essential activities.”

Recent Stories from wptv.com

But what exactly counts as an essential service or essential activity?

According to the executive order, here are some of the businesses, services, and activities that will remain open:

  • Religious services in churches, synagogues, and houses of worship
  • Recreational activities consistent with social distancing guidelines (walking, biking, hiking, fishing, hunting, running, swimming)
  • Taking care of pets
  • Caring for or otherwise assisting a loved one or friend
  • Health care providers (hospitals, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, urgent care centers, clinics, rehabilitation facilities, physical therapists, mental health professionals, psychiatrists, therapists, pharmacies)
  • Grocery stores, farmers’ markets, farm and produce stands, supermarkets, food banks, convenience stores
  • Businesses that provide food, shelter, social services, and other necessities of life for economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals
  • Newspapers, television, radio, and other media services
  • Gas stations
  • Auto supply, auto repair, and related facilities
  • Banks and related financial institutions
  • Hardware stores
  • Contractors and other tradesmen, appliance repair personnel, exterminators, and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences and other structures
  • Businesses providing mailing and shipping services, including post office boxes
  • K-12 schools, public and private colleges and universities, trade schools, and technical colleges (distance learning only)
  • Laundromats, dry cleaners, and laundry service providers
  • Restaurants and other facilities that prepare and serve food (take-out and delivery only)
  • Businesses that supply office products
  • Airlines, taxis, and other private transportation providers providing transportation services via automobile, truck, bus, or train
  • Home-based care for seniors, adults, or children
  • Assisted living facilities, nursing homes, adult day care centers, and senior residential facilities
  • Professional services, such as legal or accounting services
  • Landscape and pool care businesses, including residential landscape and pool care services
  • Child care facilities
  • Businesses operating at any airport, seaport, or other government facility, including parks and government offices
  • Pet supply stores
  • Waste management services

It should be noted that hair salons and other hair care businesses are not listed as essential services or activities.

In addition, senior citizens and Floridians with significant underlying medical conditions (chronic lung disease, moderate to severe asthma, serious heart conditions, immunocompromised status, cancer, diabetes, severe obesity, renal failure, and liver disease) “shall stay at home and take all measures to limit the risk of exposure to COVID-19.”

The “stay at home” order will remain in effect until April 30.

COULD A 100-YEAR-OLD TUBERCULOSIS VACCINE HELP PREVENT COVID-19?

/in /by

Published: April 1, 2020

By Mark Terry

BioSpace

 

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world, researchers and public health experts are casting about for older vaccines and antiviral drugs that might be used to treat the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The prime examples are malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for use under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) this weekend, despite criticism of the lack of evidence they work.

Researchers in Australia are turning to another older treatment, a vaccine once used to prevent tuberculosis (TB) called the bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), which has been used for about 100 years. Researchers have been taking a hard look at BCG for some time for other uses, including as an immunotherapy for early-stage bladder cancer.

And earlier this year, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted research with the BCG to see if it could be used to improve TB immunity. And now, in light of the way the BCG vaccine primes the immune system, it is being evaluated for COVID-19, which has at least a couple similarities to TB—they’re both lung infections caused by microorganisms.

Nigel Curtis, head of infectious diseases research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, is running a study into BCG and COVID-19, which the World Health Organization (WHO) is encouraging other researchers to collaborate with.

“It can boost the immune system so that it defends better against a whole range of different infections, a whole range of different viruses and bacteria in a lot more generalized way,” said Curtis, who is also a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Melbourne and head of the infectious diseases unit at the city’s Royal Children’s Hospital.

In Curtis’s study, which will run six months, 4,000 healthcare workers will be vaccinated with BCG with the seasonal influenza vaccine or the influenza vaccine alone. A placebo vaccine isn’t being used because the BCG shot usually causes a localized skin reaction that leaves a scar.

Similar studies are ongoing in The Netherlands and Curtis indicated he is in talks with possible trial sites in Boston and in other Australian cities.

BCG is used to immunize about 130 million newborns around the globe each year. Research in babies in Africa demonstrated that BCG offers protections against TB and other pediatric infections.

“We need to think of every possible way that we can protect healthcare workers,” Curtis said. “And there’s going to be a particular need to reduce the amount of time that our healthcare workers are absent.”

He also added, “We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t think that this might work. We cannot guarantee that this will work. And of course, the only way to find out is with our trial.”

The BCG vaccine contains a live, weakened strain of Mycobacterium bovis, which is very similar to the microbe that causes tuberculosis.

Results from the trial, which will begin dosing on April 6, aren’t likely until September. Meanwhile, researchers worldwide are testing other drugs to respond to the pandemic, with over 100 ongoing clinical trials.

“I am hopeful that within three months we will have a good idea which drugs are good and which drugs are bad,” Australian National University geneticist Gaetan Burgio told the Asia Times. “The field is moving very quickly.”