TOP STORIES FROM LAST WEEK

Our panel of 100 influential leaders discusses the most important issues affecting you.

Michael De Lucca, president, Broward Regional Health Planning Council, Inc. The CDC recently updated the COVID-19 quarantine guidelines. If you test positive for COVID19, the new guidelines advise you to stay home for five days instead of 10. Additionally, if you experience no symptoms or your symptoms are resolving after five days, you can leave your house and are advised to continue wearing a mask around others for five additional days. If you have a fever, continue to stay home until your fever ends. To find a testing or vaccination site in Broward County or for additional information visit broward.org/coronavirus.

Bernie Fernandez Jr., M.D., CEO, Baptist Health Medical Group. As 2022 begins with COVID-19 infections increasing due to the circulation of the more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus, it’s important to understand the value of receiving a full vaccine dose and a booster shot to optimize protection against severe disease and death. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna released data showing that their respective vaccines with a booster increase the number of antibodies to fight this now-dominant strain. Health officials encourage fully vaccinated individuals to receive a booster dose and those who are unvaccinated to get fully vaccinated with a booster to reduce the chance of hospitalization.

Dan Flynn, vice president for research, Florida Atlantic University. For people with epilepsy, there is an interesting, new experimental approach being developed. Epilepsy affects 1.2% of the population (3.4 million Americans, or about 60,000 South Floridians). Here, a sea lion in captivity developed epilepsy that kept getting worse. Surgeons transplanted pig neurons into the affected area of the brain of the sea lion as a way to control neural signals. One year later, the sea lion has had no seizures. This new, targeted approach avoids the effects of epilepsy drugs on other parts of the brain and may offer a new treatment option for some people with epilepsy.

Chip LaMarca,

I joined Gov. DeSantis, my legislative colleagues and local officials to announce additional testing locations in Broward County for COVID-19. While this is not quite the start to the new year we hoped for, we can all be thankful there are now treatment options and easier access to additional testing sites. As testing demands increase, more sites could be added in a matter of 24 hours with the help of the Department of Emergency Management. For the most up-to-date information on where to get tested, vaccinated or where to receive the monoclonal antibody therapy, please go to floridahealthcovid19.gov.

member, Florida House of Representatives.

Larry Rein, CEO and President, ChildNet. The juxtaposition of two items in Tuesday’s Sun Sentinel was quite startling. A page14 story highlighted the amazing corporate accomplishments of Apple, whose value Monday exceeded $3 trillion, a new record and more than the combined value of Walmart, Disney, Netflix, Nike, Exxon Mobil, Coca Cola, Comcast, Morgan Stanley, McDonald’s, AT&T, Goldman Sachs, Boeing, IBM and Ford. On the very next page was a story, replete with a heart-wrenching photo, of an Afghanistan father selling his 10-year-old daughter into marriage, taking a down payment so that he could feed his family of five. Nearly unimaginable disparity. Disappointing and dismaying.

Wendy Sartory Link, supervisor of elections, Palm Beach County. Election Day is Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022, in the special general election for U.S. Congressional District 20 and special primary election for Florida House District 88. If you still have your mail ballot and have not returned it yet, we recommend that you do not mail your ballot; instead, bring your completed mail ballot to any of our designated drop off locations. Drop boxes are located at each early-voting location during early-voting hours or outside each of our four offices. Vote-by-mail ballots must be received by our office by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Learn more at VotePalmBeach.gov.

Eric Poms,

CEO, Orange Bowl Committee. Last week, the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Michigan Wolverines 34-11 in the 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl. Almost 67,000 fans watched in sold-out Hard Rock Stadium, a big boost for tourism. Another 17.2 million viewers (peaking at 20.5 million viewers) tuned in on ESPN, more than any bowl game this season, shining a global spotlight on South Florida. The Capital One Orange Bowl was the most-viewed non-NFL sporting event across any network, and top telecast across ABC and ESPN networks since last year’s 2021 CFP National Championship game.

Gregory Tony, Broward Sheriff. In the past week, three South Floridians lost their lives in accidents involving trains. In total, five have died in the tri-county area since high-speed rail service resumed operations in November. Sadly, these tragedies are preventable. When it comes to tracks, think train. Many trains are prohibited from using whistles when approaching rail crossings in urban areas. And these trains are moving fast. Stop, look and listen when approaching railroad tracks and crossings. Stop when crossing signals are deployed and never attempt to beat a train. Your life is more important than your destination.