Highest COVID Numbers Since Star Of Pandemic Could Still Go Higher
MIAMI (CB4) - The latest number from the CDC revealed Florida had its worst surge in pandemic history. Yet those numbers could still increase.
"The numbers we're seeing right now are staggering," Dr. Aileen Marty, FIU Infectious Disease Specialist said.
COVID-19 cases from August this year have topped some of last year's peaks. CDC stats showed the last few weeks in the month had some of the highest numbers, new cases were climbing over 25,000 a day.
"And unfortunately, they are an underestimate," Dr. Marty added.
That's because there's a lag in reporting, sometimes due to the complications during a case. Dr. Marty has been at the forefront of the COVID battle in Florida and has been working to track local data.
"To decide whether someone dies of COVID or not you have to do an investigation," she explained.
Going back to the latest numbers from the CDC, close to 250 people died per week in late August.
"Don't believe this slope down, because we don't know the full amount in those days yet," Dr. Marty explained of charts where the number of deaths in Miami-Dade County seemed to be decreasing.
Regardless of delays, she warned there's cause to exercise more caution.
"People should be very concerned because we have yet to have the total tally of the people who died, in August in Florida."