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'Not so fast': Epidemiologists hesitant to say Florida has flattened the curve

The data shows it’s too soon to know if Florida has reached the next critical phase despite the Governor Ron DeSantis' announcement.

TAMPA, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis says Florida successfully flattened the curve on the same day his new Re-open Florida Task Force had their first meetings,

“Those predictions were wrong. Our work is succeeding. We have flattened the curve,” DeSantis said.

Epidemiologists say not so fast. The data shows it’s too soon to know if Florida has reached the next critical phase despite the governor’s announcement.

“We can have hope of getting to a place where we'll be able to do more things, but it's not over,” said Dr. Janice Zgibor, with the University of South Florida.

Data from the University of Washington shows the state peaked Tuesday afternoon. What doctors expect to see next is a drop in cases that will show the curve is actually starting to flatten. That could happen in the next couple of weeks.

“We need to see the down slope of the curve for a couple of weeks. I think that was in the President's recommendations and when we're there I think we can feel a little more comfortable about what's going on in the community. But still with caution,” Zgibor said.

Zgibor says the reported data is never 100 percent accurate because more people need to be tested.

“Not everyone is being tested and not everyone has gone to the hospital so that's why we need to be careful. We still need to be mindful that there are asymptomatic cases out there even if the curve starts to go down,” Zgibor said.

While DeSantis has a task force working on a plan to re-open the state, Zgibor says a recent outbreak of cases in long-term care facilities could force the Governor to delay.

“If we see the nursing home incidents go up, we'll see more positive cases and potentiality more mortality. More deaths which is something we really don't want to see but that is such a high-risk population that it could happen,” Zgibor said.

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