Florida has seen at least three days of record-breaking COVID-19 cases since the start of August. Overall, the number of new daily cases has continued to increase in Florida and the state has become the new epicenter for COVID. According to CDC data, the state's seven-day moving average number of cases has continued to increase since mid-July to numbers that the state had not seen throughout the pandemic. The situation is especially dire in Louisiana and Florida, which have the country’s worst hospitalization rates. As of Wednesday afternoon, nearly 500 students in Palm Beach were quarantined after being exposed to COVID-19 just two days into the school year. On Friday, the Broward County Teachers Union announced that three unvaccinated teachers died of COVID-19 within 24 hours this week. Florida and Texas alone have accounted for nearly 40% of new hospitalizations across the country. Florida is 3rd in overall cases of Covid and 4th in overall deaths, Texas is 2nd in overall cases and 3rd in overall deaths from Covid so far. Simultaneously, the crush of new COVID-19 infections in Mississippi and Tennessee has become so dire that the state has turned to efforts reminiscent of the earliest days of the U.S. pandemic - the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) opening up a 20-bed field hospital in its parking garage on Friday morning. In Mississippi, where daily cases have doubled in the last two weeks, more than 4,400 students were quarantined from August 2 to 6, according to state data. Low vaccination rates and the more infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus have driven a surge of COVID-19 cases across the United States, overwhelming some state medical systems. Southern states, many with vaccination rates well below the national average, have seen explosive case growth. As of August 12th, although 83% of Texans are age 12 and older and eligible for a vaccine, only 44.8% are fully vaccinated. People between the ages of 20 and 59 now account for a higher proportion of COVID-19 hospitalizations than in January.

Boca Grande Historical Society received a mountain of material - a rare and happy find during the pandemic - from the attic of a woman in Tennessee late last year. The donor, Patricia Bermingham (Colgan, Cunningham) LaSalle was born in Scotland, in the 30s, the youngest of four girls. She came to America when she was 12, through Ellis Island. Her family settled in Merchantville, N.J. and was the valedictorian of her graduating class at Kensington Girls High School of Philadelphia. She met and married Jack G. Colgan, a young stock broker from Philadelphia, then a full life in New Jersey followed. Patricia was a professional at RCA of Moorestown, working on classified information for the Navy for over twenty years. She was an avid lover of the English language, talent writer and lover of poetry and the arts and passed away on January 24, 2021. 

This year, the global Irish dance community will all come together for the first time to celebrate International Irish Dance Day - a day for people of all Irish dance affiliations to unite through dance. International Irish Dance Day is celebrated annually on September 17th, also known as halfway to St. Patrick’s Day. It was launched in 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic - a time when connection and unity were urgently needed. You can get involved with International Irish Dance Day 2020 and learn how to participate on the IIDD website.

FEMA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will test the nation’s public alert and warning systems at 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, August 11th.The purpose of the test is to assess the effectiveness of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to receive and convey a national message via radio and television and of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) infrastructure to deliver a test message to mobile phones. FEMA regularly tests the public alert and warning systems to assess the operational readiness of the supporting infrastructure. The tests also help identify any needed technological and administrative improvements to the systems.

Beginning September 14, 2020, the US Government will remove requirements for directing all flights carrying airline passengers arriving from, or recently had a presence in, certain countries to land at one of 15 designated airports and halt enhanced entry health screening for these passengers. Currently, enhanced entry health screening is conducted for those arriving from, or with recent presence in, China (excluding the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau), Iran, the Schengen region of Europe, the United Kingdom (excluding overseas territories outside of Europe), Ireland, and Brazil. Resources will instead be dedicated to more effective mitigation efforts that focus on the individual passenger, including: pre-departure, in-flight, and post-arrival health education for passengers; robust illness response at airports; and, voluntary collection of contact information from passengers.

One reason Juneteenth’s history has remained widely misunderstood, or even unknown, is because educators say it’s not often taught in schools and that has a profound impact, erasing the history of systemic racism in this country and the contributions of Black people. In 2020, the meaning of June 19, 1865 is being seized more broadly by activists as an opportunity for the United States to come to terms with how slavery continues to affect the lives of all Americans today and is something for everyone, of every race, to engage in. This year, Juneteenth will be commemorated with protests, marches, a general workers strike, and opportunities for healing and joy across the country. It will also be celebrated as it has been for decades, with cookouts and parades, as well as church gatherings and spirituals, keeping in touch with the original tradition.