Castle Recap

We kicked off Season 3 of Association Leadership, Castle’s webinar series, with a discussion on COVID-19 and the effect it has had within the property management industry and community associations overall. Episode 1 was hosted by Castle Group Founder & CEO James Donnelly, alongside Donna Berger of Becker Shareholder and Bernie Fernandez MD, MBA, FACP, the CEO of Baptist Health Medical Group.

Bernie began the discussion by informing our audience about the differences between the original COVID-19 strain versus the current delta variant, a much more transmissible disease overtaking 96% of our infected population. He also broke down herd immunity, new variants arising out of the delta, antibody infusions, and vaccine statistics. Our audience was able to have their questions answered directly by the healthcare CEO and learn more about what is really happening within hospitals as we face another surge of cases.

As Bernie walked through the numbers and graphs, Donna and James interjected with their own questions and concerns, driving the discussion even further. He also revealed to us the solemn comparison of vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals lost within Baptist hospital, further expanding on his position that the vaccine is essential in your chance of surviving this illness. He concluded his segment debunking multiple myths about the vaccine that have been perpetuated by misinformation spread across social media, urging our audience to let data drive their decision-making – not Google.

With all the critical information given by Bernie, James and Donna were able to delve into what this means for communities regarding shaping policies. Donna argued there is a certain desensitization towards the issue she deems “COVID fatigue” and much less government support than there was with the first round of coronavirus. Her concern for community associations is the liability of the laws implemented when there is a disconnect between CDC guidelines, state leadership, and overall COVID sentiments in Florida.

For the remainder of the episode, Donna helped break down the complexities of the legalities surrounding vaccine mandates and other COVID-related policies. She also advised on how to go about engineering reports and reserve funds briefly, which will be covered more in-depth in our next episode. To watch this past episode, visit https://castlegroup.com/webinar/association-leadership-season-3-episode-1/ and look out for Episode 2 of Season 3 airing soon! For questions or inquiries about Castle Group’s services, contact us at info@castlegroup.com.