Miami-Dade coronavirus hot spots may have surge teams on the weekend

DORAL, FL – Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez hopes to mobilize surge teams in coronavirus hot spots during the weekend in order to spread awareness and keep people safe. 

The special teams will be present in the ZIP codes with the highest infection rates. These are: 33142 in Allapattah, 33125 in Little Havana and 33030 in Homestead, as announced on Wednesday by the mayor. 

But teams won’t be present solely in these areas but in others that have also experienced a spike in cases such as Brownsville or South Dade.

“The surge team will be going into neighborhoods, speaking to residents and businesses about the importance of wearing a mask inside businesses,” said Gimenez.

About 100 county employees will be delivering kits, that include hand sanitizers, with the purpose of reducing COVID-19 spread in those areas, while new billboards reminding people to social distance will be exhibited.

According to a few residents of the coronavirus hot spots, reported in an article of Channel 7 News Miami, in general people seems very protected, while one resident in Homestead thinks there’s not so many people outside in the first place. 

But not everyone agrees. Resident Tracy Lacruz, cited in the article, doesn’t see so many people protected around her. “Everybody walking, go to the restaurants, sometimes you go to the restaurants and see somebody with something protective.”

Nevertheless, at this point in the pandemia, the real problem with being flexible about the rules to prevent COVID-19 spread is that it will only worsen the situation for everyone, as many experts have stated for weeks. 

“I’m asking parents and grandparents to be very careful and not get close to your kids or grandkids,” said Gimenez. “Obviously, there’s no county order that will make people do this, just common sense. It’s really a matter of life and death.”

But the county’s effort to reduce COVID-19 cases is not only limited to educating people. The Mayor announced recently that Miami-Dade is working on getting hotel rooms for people with the virus who need to self-isolate but can’t go home. Currently there are 100 hotels rooms available for people who need to quarantine.

Due to this scenario, Gimenez stated moving on to another phase of reopening is currently on pause until coronavirus cases decrease. 

More than 5,500 new cases were reported in the state over a 24-hour period, while Miami-Dade County had 27,779 total cases as of Wednesday.