FIU’s infectious disease specialist finds rise in COVID cases

Miami, Florida – Local officials and specialists are doing what they can to mitigate the spread, as Omicron continues to fuel this latest surge.

As new COVID-19 infection rates show no sign of slowing down the demand for testing sites continues.

“What we’re seeing is one out of every 5 US citizens being infected,” Florida International University’s infectious disease specialist, Dr. Aileen Marty, said.

According to Marty, the rise in cases is alarming to many health officials, and that it will only get worst.

“Most of the US is experiencing cold weather, which reduces the time to do social activities outdoors, add poor ventilation and you have this highly contagious virus that is generally contagious before a person manifests symptoms,” said Marty.

There were thousands more new cases state-wide and things are expected to get worst, according to the latest numbers from the Florida Department of Health, from New Year’s Eve to Friday.

“There will be a point where this peaks, but we’re not quite there yet. Hopefully, within the next few days, we will reach that peak, and then they’ll be enough people recently-infected that it will be unlikely that it will continue,” added Marty.

“Then, it’s going to start to go down, but remember this is not the last variant.”

According to Dr. Marty, it’s important to get vaccinated, tested, and quarantine if you’re exposed.

“It is mainly unvaccinated who are having severe disease and ending up in the ICU. There’s no question the vaccines are helping keep people away from the hospital,” adds Marty.