California's COVID Case Rate Nearly Four Times Florida's, Decreased Vaccine Efficacy To Blame

California touted its vaccine efforts as a way to stop COVID, until pivoting toward heavy mandates midway through 2021 when the spread didn't let up. Concurrently, Florida embraced having the least amount of restrictions in the U.S., and is now boasting better COVID data than the West Coast state.

According to the two states' COVID data, as of Nov. 6, California's mean seven-day frequency of COVID cases (6,288) has exceeded Florida's count by nearly four times their averages (1,473).

Detailed in a report from the Tampa Bay Times, California is beginning to see a resurgence in cases now that the vaccines approaches a time frame in which a dip in efficacy is event — proven to start six months after inoculation with Pfizer or Moderna's shot, and two months after Johnson and Johnson's dosage.

FL COVID Case Rate

CA COVID Case Rate

Per reporting on the vaccines' efficacy, from OutKick's Meg Turner, "Moderna’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine — measured as 89% effective in March — was only 58% effective by the end of September." Meanwhile, "the effectiveness of Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine fell from 87% to 45% in the same time frame."

As for the Johnson & Johnson single-jab dosage, efficacy "plunged from 86% to just 13% over those six months."

California temporarily saw a drop off in cases from September-October, but now returns to surges after predicating their plans on the efficacy of vaccines months ago.

“There are early indications that the decline in the delta surge at the national level in the U.S. has ended,” commented University of Washington professor Ali H. Mokdad.

The data has been damning to the extensive efforts put in place by Gov. Gavin Newsom to stop the spread in California, primarily through requiring full vaccination to enter businesses in heavily populated counties, such as Los Angeles County and the Bay Area, along with indefinite indoor masking.

Updated COVID guidelines in California now expect cases to be firmly below the tiered limit for "three consecutive weeks" before lifting their mandates.

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