* China has declared a citywide lockdown of its largest city, Shanghai, which has a population of 26 million.
* To date, Florida has seen nearly 6 million COVID infections and 73,000 deaths. As for the latter, it is the 16th highest per-capita death rate in the U.S.
* The (highly contagious) omicron BA.2 variant is now the dominant strain in parts of Europe and Asia. That’s a major heads-up for the U.S. But Florida, ironically, could be spared the worst of the next wave because so many Floridians—too often unfettered by mask and social distancing mandates—have already contracted the virus.
*Florida positivity rate: 2.3 percent. Hillsborough positivity rate: 3.0 percent.