Anger at Florida Canadian snowbirds

[shootingstar]

Canadian snowbirds getting the COVID-19 vaccine in Florida face backlash from some residents | CBC News

For some of these folks, it might the first time in their life as a adults getting very negative reaction from people. 

As a Canadian, seeing other Canadians going to their vacation rentals during covid overseas, vacationing in Florida plus knowing /hoping they will get vaccine in Florida..instead of just waiting this year....like majority of Canadians back in their home city/town....  I find it distasteful they are given priority over locals. They should have been blocked from even entering the U.S. in their roundabout methods.

[Prophet Zacharia]

Ah, Florida. The hotbed of US Nationalism, but also a welcoming tourist economy!

I agree with the decision to vaccinate everyone. The virus doesn’t check passports, so if you want to eradicate it from your community, you get everyone vaccinated. But that also includes the undocumented workers in the laundromats, groceries, restaurants and fields, not just the snowbirds.

[Kirby]

What I've read shows that older people are more likely to have serious reactions to the virus and require hospitalization.  If that's the case, the hospitals and doctors can be overrun by visitors as well as "locals", so it seems like treating those most in need makes sense.  But I can understand that people are frustrated by what seems like a slow and disorganized rollout of vaccines, and shortages tend to bring out the worst in people.    Although in reality, the development and approval of the vaccines have happened sooner than most experts predicted.

[maddmaxx ★]

Don't they go down there to practice with the Blue Angels?

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

I think it shows how narrow and covetous some people can be.

You'd think they'd be happy when a fellow Canadian received a Covid shot in Florida, as it would free up one dose for another Canadian to receive that much sooner.

Never mind the fact that when the snowbirds returns home, as they will eventually, they're all that less likely to bring the virus with them back to their fellow Canadians.

At the very least, you'd think they might at in the least glad that someone had the opportunity to reduce the risk of contracting the virus.

[Tizeye]

Actually that is not quite right but is an outgrowth of the Governor's major screw-up

Supplies are tight on the vaccines and when the Governor decided to deviate from 75+ guidelines and make it 65+, it was one of three States that everyone flocked to. Initially some counties tried to limit distribution of their allotment to residents of their county, but the Governor again stepped in and said it was a National program and overrode the local system and no ID's were checked...just your appointment slip obtained online. Then a newspaper ran a story how people were making vaccine vacations...get an appointment online and fly down from other States and internationally. One lady from Argentina was visiting their daughter in Tampa, and received the vaccine, as well as those from other nations, including Canada, and other States. A flight from NY to the major Florida airports is as low as $25!

Obviously there was anger by people unable to get an appointment...where a weeks worth fills in 2 hours. Yesterday, the Governor tightened the requirement that now requires some type of Florida ID showing residence. To accommodate "Snowbird Residents" who are eligible for the vaccine due to their extended 5 to 6 month stay, an allowable form of ID is a utility bill. That essentially eliminates tourist irrespective where they come from.

[Razors Edge ★]

43 minutes ago, Tizeye said:

Actually that is not quite right but is an outgrowth of the Governor's major screw-up

Supplies are tight on the vaccines and when the Governor decided to deviate from 75+ guidelines and make it 65+, it was one of three States that everyone flocked to. Initially some counties tried to limit distribution of their allotment to residents of their county, but the Governor again stepped in and said it was a National program and overrode the local system and no ID's were checked...just your appointment slip obtained online. Then a newspaper ran a story how people were making vaccine vacations...get an appointment online and fly down from other States and internationally. One lady from Argentina was visiting their daughter in Tampa, and received the vaccine, as well as those from other nations, including Canada, and other States. A flight from NY to the major Florida airports is as low as $25!

Obviously there was anger by people unable to get an appointment...where a weeks worth fills in 2 hours. Yesterday, the Governor tightened the requirement that now requires some type of Florida ID showing residence. To accommodate "Snowbird Residents" who are eligible for the vaccine due to their extended 5 to 6 month stay, an allowable form of ID is a utility bill. That essentially eliminates tourist irrespective where they come from.

So it is a matter of perspective - locals might fear not getting vaccinated, while outsiders may rejoice in "jumping" the line?

In the end, almost all of us need the shots, but it seems giving it to the most at risk (by a reasonable process of determination) is a great idea if the vaccine is available & distributed properly to deal with that.

[Prophet Zacharia]

On 1/20/2021 at 1:55 PM, Tizeye said:

Actually that is not quite right but is an outgrowth of the Governor's major screw-up

 

DeSantis screwing up the handling of Covid? You don’t say!?! I was surprised to see operating water fountains in the airport in Florida, you don’t see that in my state. Nor do we have full indoor restaurant dining and crowded bar seating at home.

I do hope they’ve allocated for the second injection, and not used it all on first shots with only the hope that they’ll get more to complete the vaccination process.

Florida had given 40,965 doses of vaccine given to people from outside the state as of Thursday, according to the Florida Department of Health. A large majority who received the vaccine, 39,710, have not yet completed the full two dose schedule.

[shootingstar]

On 1/20/2021 at 11:23 AM, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

I think it shows how narrow and covetous some people can be.

You'd think they'd be happy when a fellow Canadian received a Covid shot in Florida, as it would free up one dose for another Canadian to receive that much sooner.

 

I'm not covetous in this situation ...those Canadian snowbirds shouldn't have travelled in the lst place into the U.S. at this time. Get this straight, there is a travel ban. Those CAnadians have found roundabout ways of getting there.  Of course doesn't help when airlines don't block the paying travellers at the international gates.

On 1/22/2021 at 2:56 AM, Prophet Zacharia said:

DeSantis screwing up the handling of Covid? You don’t say!?! I was surprised to see operating water fountains in the airport in Florida, you don’t see that in my state. Nor do we have full indoor restaurant dining and crowded bar seating at home.

I do hope they’ve allocated for the second injection, and not used it all on first shots with only the hope that they’ll get more to complete the vaccination process.

Florida had given 40,965 doses of vaccine given to people from outside the state as of Thursday, according to the Florida Department of Health. A large majority who received the vaccine, 39,710, have not yet completed the full two dose schedule.

I don't wish to prolong the argument....vaccine doses to too many people out of state is causing unbalanced situation  at this time. It's probably more acceptable...if those out of state people were primarily Americans from elsewhere or undocumented workers already working in Florida (I have sympathy for their situation.)

[Prophet Zacharia]

10 hours ago, shootingstar said:

causing unbalanced situation  at this time.

Help me understand what’s unbalanced?

I agree with you that no one should violate international travel restrictions. And I understand the concern about fairness, that some Canadians are line-jumping as a result of their either illegal or loop-hole accessing of travel to the US. But from the State of Florida’s perspective, it behooves them to vaccinate everyone who is living there that they can. They don’t want to shut anything down, so the sooner they get ALL of their 65+ year olds vaccinated, the better for their hospitalization and death statistics, and tourism opportunities. And Florida sees this as THEIR vaccines to distribute, not the US Government’s, so residency matters more than citizenship, to them.

[Prophet Zacharia]

Here’s a fun story about a totally normal Canadian couple doing totally normal things. Not violating any international travel bans, at least.

Located deep in Canada’s Yukon, the remote community of Beaver Creek is home to only about 100 people, most of them members of the White River First Nation.

So when an unfamiliar couple who claimed to work at a local motel showed up at a mobile clinic to receive coronavirus vaccines, it didn’t take long for locals to become suspicious. Authorities soon found that the couple were actually wealthy Vancouver residents who had chartered a private plane to the isolated outpost so that they could get shots intended to protect vulnerable Indigenous elders.

[Razors Edge ★]

44 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Authorities soon found that the couple were actually wealthy Vancouver residents who had chartered a private plane to the isolated outpost so that they could get shots intended to protect vulnerable Indigenous elders.

So that's what is keeping @Wilbur too busy to post more often!

[jsharr ★]

27 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

So that's what is keeping @Wilbur too busy to post more often!

He started a new airline.  Swine Flew.

[jsharr ★]

17 minutes ago, jsharr said:

He started a new airline.  Swine Flew.

[Kzoo]

That's disgusting @jsharr

[jsharr ★]

Just now, Kzoo said:

That's disgusting @jsharr

yeah, so what is your point?

[shootingstar]

I'm glad the photograph of this couple was plastered all over the Internet mainstream news and beyond... so people know who they are. 

At my sister's hospital the CEO resigned from her job because CEO used her authority to get a relative early to get vaccine.  Several heads of organizations, have resigned in Canada due:  going on vacation overseas due to international ban, etc. or publicly outed for expecting privileges just because they were head honcho in a pure administrative role and no patient work at all required...OR even working in a building where there are no patients.