Miami-Dade warns the public about an upcoming third coronavirus surge

DORAL, FL – A third coronavirus surge threat has arrived in the county as new cases begin to gradually increase again.

This led Miami-Dade Mayor, Carlos Gimenez, to warn the public about a new outbreak in the coming weeks following the first one on March and the second one on August. 

“The new wave is inevitable, we need to tackle this from below. Hopefully we won’t have to take additional measures such as closing commercial premises again,” the Mayor said during a telematics conference where he also urged people to keep following safety measures, as reported by Diario Las Américas.

In an interview with Diario Las Américas, the executive director of Jackson Health Systems, Carlos Migoya, agreed with the local government in their statement. 

“All our projections indicate that there will be an increase or a rebound during the next 30 days, with a peak in the last week of November,” he anticipated while adding the fight against COVID-19 is far from over.

He also explained there’s a great chance the virus remains active until the beginning of next summer due to the fact that a pandemic usually lasts about 18 months.

Dr. Lillian Abbo, expert in infectious diseases and an advisor to the special medical team against the virus within the county, said past holidays played a significant role in the current scenario. 

“The impact we had after the July 4 festivities was significant and therefore we must be vigilant and plan well to avoid a fourth outbreak in January,” said Abbo to the media outlet. 

Miami-Dade County reported 581 new cases on Monday and has gathered a total of 183,000 infections and 3,650 deaths to date.

It is considered to be one of the worst-hit counties by the virus in the U.S. that, according to the Huffpost , has already entered a third coronavirus surge. 

Huffpost reported Tuesday morning that last Friday, October 23, was the day with more cases reported  nationally since the pandemic began in March.  

Yet, as the media points out, 15 states still do not require residents to wear masks. Additionally, of the 10 states with the highest rates of new coronavirus cases per capita according to a White House Coronavirus Task Force report, seven do not require residents to wear masks. 

In Miami-Dade, although there’s a curfew in place from midnight to 6 a.m. and many establishments demand their visitors to wear masks and keep their distance, many people still fail to comply with these rules putting everyone at danger. 

“We have to keep wearing the masks, we have to keep our physical distance, we have to keep washing our hands,” Mayor Giménez stressed out in the face of the new situation.