#AloneTogether
* The very first vaccine—for smallpox—was administered in 1796.
* Louisiana Republican Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, 41, is the highest-ranking politician to die of COVID-19.
* COVID reality: Protocols notwithstanding, how often passengers with COVID-19 board planes is impossible to know. Perhaps enforcing mask mandates with steep fines and/or reckless endangerment arrests would help.
* The Florida weekly case average: approximately 12,700 per day—including the recent recording of 17,000 cases, the largest, single-day increase for Florida.
* Women continue to outpace men in receiving the vaccination.
* December was the deadliest month of the 2020 pandemic in the U.S.: 77,000 died. The second deadliest month was April: 58,000.
* TIA received $81.2 million from the initial Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Act. It spent more than half of that to offset losses and debt. TIA now awaits details of the new $900 million coronavirus relief and stimulus package. Airports nationwide will receive $2 billion in U.S. Department of Treasury grants—to be used for anything from staffing to sanitation to paying down debt.
* COVID-19: Now the leading killer of law enforcement officers in Florida.
Tampa Bay
* No need to check out neighborhood apps to confirm that New Year’s Eve was unnecessarily loud. And if you have a family with a PTSD-scarred veteran or a vulnerable pet that “celebrates” by cowering under couches and beds, you know that noisome noisemaking into the wee hours should no longer get a holiday pass. For context: Aesthetic, colorful, fireworks displays can be cool and a galvanizing community celebration. Thoughtless and inconsiderate noisemaking, however, has nothing to do with that. Our vets and pets—and the rest of us—deserve better.
* Holiday oxymoron: New Year’s Eve and code enforcement.