The mayor of Jacksonville and the federal government’s assistant secretary of health wants to make sure you know it is hot outside. So, they held a press conference.
“You can’t take for granted that people are just going to know this stuff. You have to take the time to educate them,” Mayor Donna Deegan said.
Apparently, the mayor seems to think we do not understand it is hot as crap out there, so she, along with Adm. Rachel Levine from the U.S. Department of Health, held a press conference downtown to “educate” all of those who are unaware.
Addressing the large crowd of seven or maybe eight people, all seemingly involved with the agenda, city officials explained public libraries, community centers, city pools and splash pads are available for families to use to cool off.
Credit: COJ Facebook.com
According to reports, if the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory or an excessive heat warning, the city of Jacksonville will activate “cooling stations.”
And by “activate” they mean release a statement announcing people can go to the library during normal business hours.
Local media reported an unnamed “federal health official” seriously warned the crowd 2023 could be “the coolest year that we ever see.”
I am not sure which is worse, the hot air outside, or the hot air coming from behind the podium.
Since the year 2024, and every year after, will never be cooler than 95 degrees ever again, the federal government sent down Levine, America’s favorite transexual health secretary, to walk around the lobby of the main library in black ballerina flats with the mayor to see how the city is enacting the Democratic party’s summer catch phrase: combatting extreme heat.
Credit: COJ Facebook.com
After Levine was escorted around the lobby of the downtown public library and shown bookshelves, chairs and a room displaying art, Levine reportedly said our city is “tremendously innovative.”
Please continue reading to learn about all the cutting-edge innovative things the leader of our city had to show off to our nation’s activist assistant health secretary.
Levine saw with Levine’s own eyes how the citizens of Jacksonville are allowed to walk into the library and hang out inside a “very nice, cool environment.” Levine also was impressed with the public’s ability to access water fountains.
“They can get water,” Levine said. They can also do their part to support the mayor’s important administrative goals. Levine continued, “…they can read books. They can bring their families and children. They can expose those children to those books. It also helps the mayor’s initiative on literacy. So, we are hitting both at the same time.”
Apparently allowing people to sit inside a publicly funded building during regular business hours is somehow proof Deegan’s administration is making “a real impact” whilst improving literacy is “tremendously” ridiculous.
During the press conference the city’s chief health officer, Dr. Sunil Joshi promoted the federal government’s new online “Heat and Health Index.”
The website allows users to type in their Zip code and receive localized lifesaving information not available anywhere else or taught in schools or at home or on the local news.
On the HeatRisk page, you can enter in your Zip code to “get your local HeatRisk.”
Credit: cdc.gov
The risk hasn’t been updated in a few days… but as of Monday June 24, Duval’s HeatRisk was “major.”
According to the CDC, people in my area of town need to stay hydrated, stay cool and if possible, reschedule outdoor events to protect our health.
The CDC goes on to explain to all of us dummies, “when you are indoors, you can: use air conditioning. Use a fan to cool your body off, only when indoor temperatures are less than 90 degrees Fahrenheit.” So, if the indoor temp rises to 91 degrees, the fan is off limits.
The government agency also wants people to use the CDC’s website to check the air quality outside to see if it is safe enough to even leave your home during the summer and of course “work with your doctor to see if you need to take additional health actions.”
I would like to point out, if the majority of Americans are too stupid to know air conditioning can help regulate body temperature indoors and a government website is needed to explain such, society is doomed.
Today’s air quality is listed as “moderate,” so most of us will “be okay spending time outside.” Based off all the doomsday prophesying from the mayor’s podium, we better get outside and enjoy because today is as good as it gets.
Redundancy is the only way to combat extreme heat when it comes to government spending. So, in an effort to educate all those people who were not fortunate enough to find the CDC’s new website, the city of Jacksonville created JaxReady.com featuring COJ’s revolutionary Extreme Heat Plan.
Credit: jaxready.com
During times of “extreme heat” the city wants citizens to Stay Cool, Stay Hydrated and Stay Informed.
During times of “extreme heat” the city gives us axiomatic advice on how to “stay cool” by going inside an air-conditioned building during the hottest portion of the day. The city also lets us know drinking water, reminding family and friends to drink water and watching the weather are all important steps to follow to avoid illness and death.
Credit: jaxready.com
It is so strange how the city’s tips are almost the same as the federal government’s advice. I wonder if we could have saved some time, money and lowered Adm. Levine’s Co2 emissions by simply sending an email telling people to google how not to have a heat stroke instead of the silly charade at the main library.
Following the tour of the library, Levine discussed “extreme heat” spreading across the country this season. Levine confidently told the group, extreme heat is “the deadliest weather-related hazard we have,” adding, “there are approximately 1,200 people in the United States who are killed every year by the extreme heat.”
The purpose of the press conference, the federal government sending down the country’s health secretary and the library tour is to make us believe human caused climate change has now resulted in temperatures so hot and deadly, leaving your home without first checking the fed’s website and then the city’s special heat website, could cost you your life.
After a few clicks of my own, I stumbled upon the “Summary of Natural Hazard Statistics for 2023 in the United States,” by the National Weather Service and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
According to the document, 702 people in the U.S. died from a “natural hazard”, meaning the weather, in 2023.
Remember, America’s health secretary just told our mayor and local media 1,200 people die from “extreme heat” every year.
I am not sure where Levine got that number… According to the government’s tabulation, 207 people in the U.S. died from the heat in 2023. And only two deaths occurred in Florida. One inside a hot car, the other is listed as unknown.
If Levine was being honest, which obviously the secretary has issues with, Levine would have told the group, Florida’s No. 1 weather-related killer is rip currents not so-called “extreme heat.”
Referring to the government’s statistics, 91 people died from rip currents in 2023, including 30 in Florida. Three people drowned in rip-currents in Duval County in June of last year.
So far in 2024 19 people have died in the water off Florida’s coast.
In Eye on Jacksonville’s article, “Combatting Racist Heat Waves,” https://eyeonjacksonville.com/combatting-racist-heat-waves/ published last year, we learned aside from hot car deaths, Duval County has only had one heat related death. Back in June 1998, a 54-year-old man collapsed and died after a bike ride in Jacksonville Beach. To put it in perspective, since the year 2000, only five people have died from heat in the state of Florida.
Based on the numbers, the people of Jacksonville would be better served with an educational campaign on the dangers of local rip currents and free swimming lessons.
Stay safe out there and if you are unsure how to do so, scan the city’s QR code to learn how to “Stay Cool in Jax!”\
Credit: jaxready.com
