Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez Urges Residents To Take Coronavirus Threat Seriously
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - With a high COVID positivity rate and the crisis worsening, Hialeah health care workers and the mayor sounded the alarm on Thursday.
"We are the epicenter of the epicenter," said Hialeah Hospital COO Shirley Adkins. "Nurse are working three four and five shifts. A good number is having one nurse for every four patients. We have one for every 10. Nurses are exhausted. Doctors are exhausted."
"Hialeah hospital is full of COVID patients. So is Kendall Hospital and Palmetto General," said Dr. Alberto Dominguez Bali. "In three weeks, I have seen 20 pregnant women with COVID."
And yet, they said Hialeah residents are not following the rules to wear a mask in public and keep at least six feet apart.
"We know the mask protects you 87% of the time and social distancing in 90% of cases," said Dr. Bali.
"We have to treat everyone as if they are infected, even within families," said Mayor Carlos Hernandez
Mayor Hernandez, who's been at odds with Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, complained Hialeah is not getting their share of $475 million in federal COVID relief money.
"Anytime a person wants power it's dictatorship," said Hernandez.
Mayor Gimenez said it is not up to him.
"This will be a process. It's up to the county commission to allocate those funds," said Gimenez.
