Life expectancy can be affected by a variety of factors.
About 25% of your lifespan is determined by genetics, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Health and wellness habits—like following a balanced, nutrient-rich diet; not smoking; drinking minimal alcohol; maintaining a healthy weight; and staying physically active—can add more than a decade to your life, research from the National Institutes of Health shows.
While these factors are significant, another important element that you might not have considered is your environment and community. While life expectancy generally increases annually in the United States—jumping from about 70.8 years old to 77.5 between 1970 and 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—this particular metric can vary from state to state or even county to county.
In some parts of the country, the average lifespan is getting shorter based on a variety of risk factors on top of health, including socioeconomic factors like poverty, unemployment, income, and education.
According to a 2020 study from researchers at Penn State, West Virginia, and Michigan State Universities, communities with a higher population density, more fast food restaurants, and a high number of extraction industry-based jobs tend to have shorter life expectancies.
To find out how life expectancy varies within Florida, Stacker used 2024 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute to identify the counties with the shortest life expectancy.
Life expectancy measures the average number of years from birth a person can expect to live and is calculated based on the number of deaths in a given time period and the average number of people at risk of dying during that period.
Counties with unreliable or insufficient data were excluded from the analysis. Mortality data came from the National Vital Statistics System.
Read on to see if your county is on the list.
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#33. Gilchrist County (tie)
– Life expectancy: 75.6 years — 2.9 years lower than the state average
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#33. Hardee County (tie)
– Life expectancy: 75.6 years — 2.9 years lower than the state average
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#32. Highlands County
– Life expectancy: 75.5 years — 3.0 years lower than the state average
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#30. Hendry County (tie)
– Life expectancy: 75.4 years — 3.1 years lower than the state average
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#30. Jefferson County (tie)
– Life expectancy: 75.4 years — 3.1 years lower than the state average
Those who venture along the west coast of Florida might find themselves in the small beach town of Punta Gorda, nearly two hours south of Tampa.
But if you travel to Punta Gorda, there’s a good chance you’d miss one of its biggest local attractions: an old drinking fountain in the middle of downtown.
The fountain can be found at the intersection of Taylor Street and West Marion Avenue. (Anthony Talcott/)
While unassuming at first glance, the fountain has been lovingly dubbed the “Fountain of Youth” by locals over the years.
Old newspaper articles report accounts from locals who claim that the fountain has kept them young and energized. It was popular enough that some people had to wait in lines just to get a drink.
The Fountain of Youth stands in the middle of downtown Punta Gorda. (Anthony Talcott/)
And while there’s no way to tell for sure whether this is the same spring that famed explorer Ponce De Leon was searching for in the early 1500s, one thing is for certain.
The fountain is radioactive.
The fountain still works to this day, though the water smells bad enough that you likely won’t want to drink it. (Anthony Talcott/)
According to NPR, the well water was tested in the 1980s, with health officials discovering high levels of radium inside the well. Specifically, there were around 9 picocuries — double the recommended maximum under federal guidelines.
While there were reportedly talks of closing it down, the popularity surrounding the fountain pressured officials into keeping it open and available to the public.
However, the Florida Department of Health posted a sign on the drinking fountain, which reads as follows:
A sign posted on Punta Gorda’s “Fountain of Youth” (Anthony Talcott/)
But despite what the sign says, rest assured; you’re not likely to develop cancer just because you take a quick swig.
“Well, that sign may be scary, but it seems a little bit of radioactivity might not be all bad…” U.S. Geological Survey researcher Zoltan Szabo told NPR back in 2013. “If that was your drinking water, and that was the only source of water you had, and you drank it for 70 years — even then, you’d only have the one in 20,000 risk.”
A spigot attached to Punta Gorda’s “Fountain of Youth” (Anthony Talcott/)
In fact, NPR reports that the well water might contain a compound — magnesium sulfate — that can actually lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases and improve respiratory health.
The downside? Magnesium sulfate makes the water smell horrible.
When News 6 traveled to the site to check out the fountain, it gave off an odor of sulfur and mildew — not exactly the most appetizing scent.
Regardless, the fountain still works, and it’s still accessible to those who want to use it.
Of course, you can always just stick to the tap water at home. That offers its own suite of health benefits — and without all of the radiation.
An ancient tree from India is now thriving in groves where citrus trees once flourished in Florida, and could help provide the nation with renewable energy.
As large parts of the Sunshine State’s once-famous citrus industry have all but dried up over the past two decades because of two fatal diseases, greening and citrus canker, some farmers are turning to the pongamia tree, a climate-resilient tree with the potential to produce plant-based proteins and a sustainable biofuel.
For years, pongamia has been used for shade trees, producing legumes — little brown beans — that are so bitter wild hogs won’t even eat them.
But unlike the orange and grapefruit trees that long occupied these rural Florida groves northwest of West Palm Beach, pongamia trees don’t need much attention.
Pongamia trees also don’t need fertilizer or pesticides. They flourish in drought or rainy conditions. And they don’t require teams of workers to pick the beans. A machine simply shakes the tiny beans from the branches when they are ready to harvest.
Terviva, a San Francisco-based company founded in 2010 by Naveen Sikka, then uses its patented process to remove the biopesticides that cause the bitter taste, making the beans suitable for food production.
“Florida offers a rare opportunity for both Terviva and former citrus farmers. The historical decline of the citrus industry has left farmers without a crop that can grow profitably on hundreds of thousands of acres, and there needs to be a very scalable replacement, very soon,” Sikka told The Associated Press. “Pongamia is the perfect fit.”
What is the pongamia tree?
The pongamia is a wild tree native to India, Southeast Asia and Australia.
The legume is now being used to produce several products, including Panova culinary oil and protein, which are featured ingredient in Aloha’s Kona protein bars. The company also makes protein flour.
The legumes also produce oil that can be used as a biofuel, largely for aviation, which leaves a very low carbon footprint, said Ron Edwards, chairman of Terviva’s board of directors and a long-time Florida citrus grower.
Turning a wild tree into a domestic one hasn’t been easy, Edwards said.
“There are no books to read on it, either, because no one else has ever done it,” he said.
Bees and other pollinators feast on the pongamia’s flowers, supporting local biodiversity, Edwards said. An acre of the trees can potentially provide the same amount of oil as four acres of soy beans, he added.
What’s left after the oil is removed from the pongamia bean is “a very high-grade protein that can be used as a substitute in baking and smoothies and all kinds of other plant-based protein products,” Edwards said. “There’s a lot of potential for the food industry and the oil and petroleum industry.”
Why Florida?
“We know pongamia grows well in Florida, and the end markets for the oil and protein that come from the pongamia beans — biofuel, feed, and food ingredients — are enormous,” Sikka said. “So farmers can now reduce their costs and more closely align to the leading edge of sustainable farming practices.”
At a nursery near Fort Pierce, workers skilled in pongamia grafting techniques affix a portion of the mother tree to a pongamia rootstock, which ensures the genetics and desired characteristics of the mother tree are perpetuated in all of Terviva’s trees.
Pongamia vs. citrus
Citrus had been Florida’s premier crop for years until disease caught up with it starting in the 1990s with citrus canker and later greening.
Citrus canker, a bacterial disease, is not harmful to humans, but it causes lesions on the fruit, stems and leaves. Eventually, it makes the trees unproductive.
Citrus greening, also known as Huanglongbing, slowly kills trees and degrades the fruit, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Greening has spread throughout Florida since 2005, devastating countless groves and reducing citrus production by 75%. The disease has spread to Louisiana, Texas and California.
Hurricane Ian caused about $1.8 billion in damages to Florida’s agriculture in September 2023, hitting the citrus industry at the beginning of its growing season.
Disease and climate issues have also affected most of the world’s top citrus-producing countries. For example, this year’s harvest in Brazil — the world’s largest exporter of orange juice — is forecast to be the worst in 36 years because of flooding and drought, according to a forecast by Fundecitrus, a citrus growers’ organization in Sao Paulo state.
But climate and disease have little effect on pongamia trees, the company’s officials said.
“It’s just tough, a jungle-tested tree” Edwards said. “It stands up to a lot of abuse with very little caretaking.”
Pongamia also grows well in Hawaii, where it now thrives on land previously used for sugarcane.
What are citrus farmers saying?
John Olson, who owns Circle O Ranch, west of Fort Pierce, has replaced his grapefruit groves with 215 acres (87.01 hectares) of pongamia trees.
“We went through all the ups and downs of citrus and eventually because of greening, abandoned citrus production,” Olson said. “For the most part, the citrus industry has died in Florida.”
While the grapefruit grove was modest, it was common for a grove that size to be profitable in the 1980s and 1990s, Olson said.
Edwards said farmers used various sprays to kill the insect that was spreading the disease. Eventually, the cost of taking care of citrus trees became too risky.
That’s when he decided to go a different route.
“What attracted me to pongamia was the fact that one it can repurpose fallow land that was citrus and is now lying dormant,” he said. “From an ecological point of view, it’s very attractive because it can replace some of the oils and vegetable proteins that are now being generated by things like palm oil, which is environmentally a much more damaging crop.”
What about biofuel?
In December 2023, Terviva signed an agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation to provide biofuel feedstock that can be converted into biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.
“Our partnership with Mitsubishi is off to a great start,” Sikka said, noting that the company coordinates closely with Mitsubishi on tree plantings and product development and sales. “Terviva’s progress has accelerated thanks to Mitsubishi’s expertise and leadership around the globe on all facets of Terviva’s business.”
What food products does pongamia produce?
The research is ongoing, but Edwards said they have made really good graham crackers in addition to the table oil and other plant-based protein products, including flour and protein bars.
Pongamia offers an alternative to soybean and yellow pea protein “if you don’t want your protein to come from meat,” he said.
Despite 13% of the American population living with a disability, stigma and discrimination persist. With 44 million Americans living with some form of disability, it is more critical than ever to understand their needs.
To give Americans a better idea of accommodations needed in their communities, accessiBe charted disability statistics in Florida using Census Bureau data. This state-level story is part of a broader national analysis. Shares of state populations with certain disabilities are measured using one-year American Community Survey estimates for 2022 among the total civilian noninstitutionalized population.
Nearly everyone who lives long enough will eventually develop a disability, according to the World Health Organization. Census Bureau estimates from 2022 show that almost one-quarter of all Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 have disabilities, compared to nearly 13% of people between 35 and 64. Close to half of those 75 or older have some type of disability. As the U.S. population ages, accessibility will become increasingly important in American infrastructure and culture.
“Accessibility” and “accommodation” are two frequently used terms when referring to efforts to remove barriers for those living with disabilities. Accessibility refers to proactive measures to remove barriers while planning or designing an event, program, or structure. Accommodations are designed to retroactively correct barriers previously created in an inaccessible design.
Accessibility for those with disabilities has greatly improved since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990. In a Pew Research survey conducted in 2023, about 3 out of 4 workers who spend at least part of their time on-site said their workplaces are at least somewhat accessible for those with physical disabilities; more than half of respondents said their workplaces are very accessible. Access to and usage of specialized education and services for students with disabilities has also expanded substantially in the last 15 years.
The ADA was created to prevent discrimination against Americans living with disabilities. However, its implementation has benefits for the entire population. The ADA has elevated American society at large by dismantling discriminatory barriers to employment, increasing access to and through buildings, and expanding benefits like temporary medical leave.
Even with the ADA driving disability rights for more than 30 years, however, accessibility is not universal nor doled out equitably. One example can be found in earnings: Workers with disabilities made record employment gains in 2023; but they still earn far less on average than those without disabilities, bringing home a median annual wage in 2022 of about $31,000 versus nearly $44,000 for those without disabilities.
Poverty disproportionately affects individuals with disabilities at twice the rate of those without: 20.4% versus 10.1%, respectively, according to Census Bureau data. Living with a disability makes other health concerns more likely, as well, including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Introducing poverty to that reality exacerbates health concerns for Americans with disabilities: About 1 in 4 people with disabilities ages 18-44 have unaddressed health needs due to cost, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reducing and simplifying medical expenses would bring a host of benefits to those living with disabilities as well as to the general population.
accessiBe
A closer look at disabilities in Florida
About 13.8% of people have disabilities in Florida, most commonly mobility disabilities. People with disabilities may have co-occurring disabilities, such as being deaf and blind or having mobility difficulties that make it challenging to live independently.
Nationally, 13.4% of Americans report having one or more disabilities, with the most common disability pertaining to mobility. Nearly 7% of Americans have conditions that prevent or impede walking. Ensuring accessibility for people with mobility issues results in the largest infrastructural changes, such as adding ramps and elevators to buildings, adding lifts to pools and hot tubs, and creating wheelchair spaces on public transit.
Supporting these individuals has also spurred advances in technology, such as increasingly advanced wheelchairs and vehicles that can be driven by those who don’t have full use of their feet. In the digital world, accessibility entails spacing text and buttons adequately to allow users to enlarge text or click precisely on what they intend to, removing time limitations, and avoiding mandatory drag-and-drop interfaces.
Disabilities that limit people’s ability to live independently (reported among 6% of Americans) are also common throughout the country. Independent-living disabilities include physical or mental limitations that prevent people from completing errands or household tasks. These, along with self-care disabilities, most often necessitate a caretaker, whether a live-in family member, an in-home aide, or admittance to a nursing home.
Individualized treatment plans, skill development training, and smart home technologies could help people with independent-living disabilities maintain their independence. What’s more, flexible work schedules, remote work capabilities, and family and medical leave can create more opportunities for families to better support their loved ones with disabilities.
Nearly 6% of Americans have cognitive disabilities such as autism and dementia, which can cause difficulty concentrating or making decisions. To create accessibility for people with these conditions, people and institutions can communicate information in multiple modes: audio, text, and visuals. Website interfaces can provide multiple navigation options to ensure ease of access for anyone. Consistency, predictability, and simplicity in websites, signage, and other communications make them more accessible to people with these disabilities—and more straightforward for all viewers.
Hearing impairments (which impact 3.7% of Americans) are increasingly being represented in media, from blockbuster films like “A Quiet Place” to central characters in shows like Marvel’s “Hawkeye” and AMC’s “The Walking Dead.” Deaf and hard-of-hearing social media influencers are also spreading knowledge of American Sign Language. Subtitles are becoming more commonly used even among those who don’t have hearing disabilities.
Accessibility has also improved for those with visual impairments, reported among 2.5% of Americans. People experiencing partial or full blindness have more access to increasingly specific alternative text/descriptions for images, speech recognition technology, integrated colorblind tests, and more.
Understanding the particular needs within communities is essential to eliminating bias and continuing to improve accessibility in the physical and digital worlds for all Americans.
This story features data reporting and writing by Paxtyn Merten and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 50 states and Washington D.C.
This story originally appeared on accessiBe and was produced and
distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
According to AdventHealth, the number of cases coming into Centra Care has significantly increased. Last month, the average was 250 cases a week. There were 750 cases just last week alone.
“We’ve had a lot of tripling in the number of cases coming in with COVID-19,” said Dr. Timothy Hendrix, Medical Director for AdventHealth Centra Care. “Most likely this is KP.3, the new variant, one of the Omicron variants that we are seeing spread.”
KP.3 and LB.1 are among multiple variants being tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While it’s not necessarily related to summer, there are multiple factors on how it is spread, specifically holiday travel.
The summer surge of infections started after Memorial Day, which Hendrix says is a pattern of waves of COVID-19 AdventHealth has seen in the past, typically with travel and people coming together. There will likely be an uptick after the Fourth of July.
Recent CDC data shows that it’s estimated that COVID-19 infections are growing in 44 states and territories. The CDC recommends vaccinations for everyone ages 6 months and older in the United States for the prevention of COVID-19. The new 2024-2025 vaccines are expected to be available in fall 2024.
Untreated water used by a Florida cucumber grower is one likely source of salmonella food poisoning that sickened nearly 450 people across the U.S. this spring, federal health officials said Tuesday.
But that grower doesn’t account for all of the cucumber-related illnesses and 125 hospitalizations that were reported from late March through early June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Salmonella found in untreated canal water used by Bedner Growers Inc. of Boynton Beach, Florida, matched a strain of the bacteria that caused some of the illnesses in reported in more than 30 states and Washington, D.C. Additional types of salmonella were detected in soil and water samples collected at the site, FDA officials said.
Bedner Growers supplied Fresh Start Produce Sales of Delray Beach, Florida, which recalled crates of cucumbers in late May after the first illnesses were reported. Bedner Growers also supplied cucumbers to multiple places where ill people reported buying or eating the produce, FDA said.
Investigators originally said there were two outbreaks of salmonella possibly tied to cucumbers, but combined them into one because of several similarities, including the timing and the type of food. Nearly 70% of sick people interviewed reported eating cucumbers before they fell ill, the FDA said. The investigation is continuing.
Bedner Growers’ cucumber growing and harvesting season is over. There is no product from the farm remaining on the market, the FDA said, so there’s likely no ongoing risk to the public.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
