Broward Mayor Holness, Miami-Dade Mayor Gimenez Keeping Close Watch, As COVID-19 Cases Surge
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Broward Mayor Dale Holness is concerned about the recent spikes in positive COVID-19 test results. So is Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez.
"It's frightening, these large numbers scares me," Mayor Holness said.
"Part of it is because we opened, part of it is the large number of testing we are doing. But our positivity rate was down to less than 3%. It's more than doubled to 7.7 percent."
These increases come as more businesses around South Florida reopen.
Mayor Holness believes we have to do some tough monitoring before going forward, like opening bars and night clubs and increasing restaurant and business capacity.
"I think we ought to slow down and look, track first where we are, and see what the results are before we go further with openings," said Mayor Holness.
In Miami-Dade, County Mayor Carlos Gimenez has no plans to backtrack when it comes to reopening our economy, but he also wants to closely watch as we move forward.
"I have said from the beginning more testing, we will see more positive results," said Mayor Gimenez.
"We will continue to monitor this. If we see a true spike, a 14-day period, we'll do what we have to do to change course. For now, we're heading in the right direction," added Mayor Gimenez.
Meanwhile, Dr. Joshua Lenchus, Chief Medical Officer at Broward Health Medical Center, said, "Not at all surprising. The more people get out, try to get back to work, the more we use our testing platforms, the higher the numbers are going to go."
Dr. Lenchus adds that "while positive cases spike hospital admissions are not." He said that's partly because of early treatment and learning more about how to effectively care for patients.
"In fact, if you look at the data for the last three months or so, the number of people that are going to the hospital has remained relatively consistent," said Dr. Lenchus.
