TAMPA, Fla. — Florida's coronavirus case numbers seem to be declining, but infectious disease experts say it isn't happening fast enough.
“We didn't sit on the stay-at-home order long enough and as a consequence, almost immediately when we lifted it, everybody came to the table and ate and the table got dirty and messy, and we saw the spread, just explode,” Dr. Jay Wolfson with the University of South Florida Public Health said.
That’s why the World Health Organization’s suggestion to close down hot spots for 5-6 weeks is back in the spotlight. That period of time should allow for COVID-19 case numbers to drop.
“The analogy is if you've got a table that's been used in a restaurant, and it's dirty, and it's got food on it, and you spend a lot of time cleaning it off, you finally get it all cleaned and disinfected. There are no germs and there's no food on it. At some point, depending on how you eat, it's going to get food and stuff all over again,” Wolfson said.
That’s what the doctor says is happening in Florida. Even if we’re wearing masks and social distancing, coronavirus cases continue to rise.
Another shutdown is the alternative Wolfson says could stop the spread of COVID-19. No movement in the state and no one traveling in for 5-6 weeks should bring the infection rate down to 5 percent or less.
“If you're able to close down an economy to the point where you push the curve down to say, you know, under 5 percent of the cases for five or six or seven weeks, the theory is that in that geographical location, you've cleaned it. I think it would be very positive in terms of pushing the rate down and containing it. If we got it down to less than 5%, over that five or six week period,” Wolfson said.
The goal is no infections at all, but the economy would have to take another hit that many can't handle. Plus Wolfson says the downward trend isn't necessarily guaranteed.
“If it has not been above 5 percent, for six weeks, then you've probably got it stabilized. But 5 percent is not 3 percent. It's not a 1 percent. Spain is already having to experience this. New Jersey just experienced a 90% increase in it’s cases in the last two weeks, which is just astonishing. They thought they had condensed it. Nothing's foolproof until we have a vaccine and treatments, or herd immunity. We don't have any of those things,” Wolfson said.
Wolfson says Gov. Ron DeSantis is trying to find the middle ground between another shutdown and reopening the state. If infections start peaking, he says areas of the state may have to shut down.
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