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'We Are Heading A Million Miles An Hour In The Wrong Direction,' Health Expert Dr. Aileen Marty On Florida's COVID-19 Surge

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - More than 52 thousand new cases of COVID-19 were reported across the country on Thursday.

Since Memorial Day, cases are up an alarming 64 percent.

In Florida this week, the state hit a 10 thousand case increase in a single day, after an aggressive re-opening plan was rolled out last month.

"Right now, we are heading a million miles an hour in the wrong direction," said Dr. Aileen Marty, an infectious disease specialist at Florida International University.

Dr. Marty helped Miami-Dade write its re-opening rules, but she said not enough people are following them.

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  • To help stem the increasing number of cases, beaches have closed for the holiday weekend and the county implemented new restrictions and a 10 p.m. curfew.

    "It's absolutely the saddest thing, the most unnecessary situation that we're finding ourselves in and it's behaviorally driven," she said.

    Florida smashed through its single-day record for new cases on Thursday and in the last fourteen days, the total number of cases has nearly doubled, rising 96 percent.

    That spike brought Vice President Mike Pence to Tampa.

    "No one wants to see these numbers where they are," he said.

    Pence met with Governor Ron DeSantis who urged Floridians to be cautious over the July 4th weekend.

    "If everyone is enjoying life but doing it responsibly, we're going to be fine, we'll get that positivity rate down," said DeSantis.

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