COVID shaped how Florida will deal with bird flu or next pandemic pandemonium
Jim Waymer
- Florida's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was marked by confusion, misinformation, and policy changes that eroded public trust.
- Public health officials emphasize the need for improved communication, early testing strategies, and consideration of economic impacts in future outbreaks.
- The emergence of bird flu in Florida, particularly its impact on dolphins, raises concerns about potential human transmission and the state's preparedness for future pandemics.
- The politicization of public health measures, such as mask mandates and vaccine skepticism, continues to influence Florida's approach to disease outbreaks.
- Experts stress the importance of accurate data collection, transparency, and evidence-based decision-making to rebuild public trust and effectively manage future health crises.
Five years ago, a then-new coronavirus annihilated old notions of what we thought we knew about pandemic preparedness. Florida stood out during the dilemma — in ways good or bad, depending on who you ask.
Florida is still absorbing the tough lessons forged from COVID's unknowns, shaping how the state and the public handle bird flu or whatever next bug lands here. For starters, whatever public health officials say in the next outbreak, Florida needs to step up its game on more accurate, timely communication, early testing, and consideration of overall economic impacts of pandemic policies — or be cursed to repeat the same catastrophic mistakes.
"It's an unprecedented scenario," said Benjamin Anderson, assistant professor at University of Florida's Department of Environmental and Global Health. "In that moment, so much was unknown about the virus … All we did know is that there were a lot of people dying very quickly."
Meanwhile, as the current flu season echoes COVID's concerns, some in the public health arena fear steep federal staff cuts driven by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could erase institutional lessons learned, or ability to respond to them.
What will be the next outbreak?
In early 2020, much less was known about early treatment options. There was no vaccine. There was fear of limited clinical capacity: Were there enough hospital beds? Ventilators?
The pandemic shed light on how Florida might brace for bird flu or other viruses we're constantly warned could cause the next bad outbreak.
Ebola? Swine flu? Nipah virus? A drug-resistant "super bug?" Now, HKU5-CoV-2, another bat virus in China, is making headlines. Name your pathogen. Or maybe it will remain nameless, for now: Global health officials point to a so-called "Disease X," a currently unknown pathogen that could emerge to make many fear, doubt and distrust, all over again.
Regardless of the bug, next time, will Florida be ready?
Bird flu's already knocking on Brevard County's door.
Bird flu already close to home in Brevard
Bird flu is still considered a low risk to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There's no evidence it spreads between humans. But it's already spilled over to and is killing one of our fellow mammals — the bottlenose dolphin — a sentinel for human health. And that's hit as close to home as it gets: Seven of the eight dolphins that have died of bird flu in the just over a year were found in Brevard County's portion of the Indian River Lagoon, according to tests by federal agriculture officials. More dead lagoon dolphin samples are pending.
During COVID, public health officials weren't always clear about the multiple underlying health problems of those who succumbed. But they explicitly spelled that out in the nation's first bird flu death. In early January, Louisiana health officials announced that a resident, over 65 years old who had underlying medical conditions, was the first in the U.S to die of bird flu. The case showed signs the virus is mutating, the CDC said, raising fears it might become transmissible among humans.
As of March 12, there were only 70 confirmed bird flu cases in humans, with the one fatality in Louisiana. More than half were in California and associated with exposure to dairy herds.
Flu viruses circulate in wild birds — mostly ducks — for decades, without much harm to the birds. Most show few symptoms but can cause rare viral spillovers into mammals. The H5N1 virus has been hitting birds and livestock harder this year, though, with the worst impacts mostly at poultry and dairy operations.
In dolphins, bird flu appears to attack mostly the brain. In humans, it's the lungs.
The dolphin deaths don't mean bird flu will hit humans here, scientists assure. But as that virus and others emerge, will we Floridians trust what the experts and government tell us, given how much they got wrong during COVID?
Will Brevard close beach parking during next outbreak?
County officials say they were were only following state health officials' lead when they closed some beach parking during COVID.
In March 2020, some beachside parks and public parking areas along the county's 72-mile shoreline were closed, in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The order was based on a unanimous vote of the county's Policy Group, a 10-member panel of government, public safety, health and education officials. Beaches remained open. But the decision, driven mostly by the Florida Department of Health (FDOH), aimed at limiting crowds more than 10, which seemed to many more arbitrary than scientific.
"FDOH was the lead agency for the County’s response during COVID," Don Walker, the county's spokesman, said via email. "From a County standpoint, we never closed our parks and never closed our beaches. Didn’t close libraries, and didn’t close public buildings ― like the Government Center."
Brevard briefly closed beachside parking during the Governor’s executive order, Walker added, "and from a safety standpoint after Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale closed beaches during Spring Break and there was a concern, at that time, that they’d all head here. It was a safety measure and in compliance with mass gathering recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control."
Next pandemic needs more streamlined testing
Public health experts are still touting the virtues of early testing, although maybe next time, in a more targeted manner.
Some scientists say indiscriminate mass testing during COVID yielded many 'false positives,' and more confusion as a result. They challenged what they saw as over-reliance on the so-called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests as the sole determinant of disease.
Nonetheless, PCR reigned supreme, and continues to do so with bird flu and other emerging diseases, especially in livestock testing.
"As the pandemic progressed, testing continued to be an important tool for monitoring case numbers and adjusting recommendations for the public," Anderson, of UF, said. "I think all states learned lessons throughout that process."
In future outbreaks, the Food and Drug Administration needs to streamline emergency approval of diagnostic testing, Anderson added. "This process needs to happen more quickly and with less regulatory burden," he said.
"Testing is critical for tracking and controlling an infectious disease outbreak, particularly among individuals with the greatest risk of exposure and/or outcomes," Anderson said. "This means ramping up availability and access to testing as an outbreak occurs."
Public health officials also learned sewage can provide early warning signs for disease spikes.
Cocoa Beach's 2020 sewage samples more than tripled in genetic material associated with COVID per liter, hitting a high on Nov. 16, 2020, when crowds flocked to town that week for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch carrying the manned Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station.
Will so-called 'conspiracists' control next outbreak?
COVID cut countless lives and careers short. And in the fog of the information war, many assumed the worst.
As confusion grew, so did conspiracies. But now, some dubbed "conspiracy theorists" by their detractors before and during COVID, could be in control of the next pandemic — in Florida and federally.
Florida's Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has faced backlash for calling for more caution regarding COVID-19 vaccines that use messenger RNA and lipid nanoparticles, because of uncertainties over other health risks. He's also recently called for utilities to stop adding fluoride to drinking water because of concerns about neurological effects on children.
When asked during his recent confirmation hearing, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also questioned whether COVID vaccines work. That's still a matter of ongoing scientific debate, in terms of risks versus benefits, as a recent Yale study suggests. Kennedy also got backlash after comments he made at a private dinner in New York City during his presidential run about whether a recent study implied the virus was targeted at certain races.
To Anderson, in a way it, Florida's response to the next outbreak also is about dollars and common sense, not just safety — a tension that persists.
"There's a feedback loop that goes into managing a pandemic like that," Anderson said. "Accurate, clear, and timely communication from responsible officials is important to keeping the public informed and maintaining public trust."
Contact Waymer at (321) 261-5903 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com. Follow him on X at @JWayEnviro.