Keep wearing those masks

Governor Desantis has attributed Florida’s spike in Covid 19 cases to increased testing rather than premature re-opening. There are several reasons why this excuse is misleading and dangerous. Florida is among seven states that have experienced a spike since Memorial Day which public health experts have attributed to re-opening. Florida is following the pattern of these other states, which has not been attributed to more testing. Moreover, most patients who contract the virus experience symptoms that require medical treatment and their illness is known whether they are tested or not. If, indeed, Florida’s spike is due to more testing, then the state had a high COVID rate earlier which, if known, would have warranted keeping restrictions in place. Florida has also been under-reporting its incidences by flouting CDC guidelines which require reporting of “probable” COVID cases. What if the governor is wrong and we allow the rising incidence to continue? Florida will become like Arizona, where it runs out of ICU space in hospitals that run out of medicine. Now Florida is targeted to be the site of Trump rallies and a convention without social distancing. The governor and the county executives need to start obeying the science and not the policies of President Trump, who is ignoring the increased incidence and deaths for political reasons. Florida needs to start reclosing, not further re-opening before it is too late.

David Klingsberg, Boca Raton