On Tuesday, County Health Officer Miranda Hawker told Indian River County commissioners that COVID-19 cases are expected to peak in Florida within 2 weeks.
If true, that could be on April 21, 2020. It also means that cases may begin to drop after that date. However, she warns that Florida isn’t out of the woods yet.
“Now that is not to say that on April 21, life is going to return to normal,” Hawker told commissioners. “That means that our peak is projected to be April 21. So, after that, you’ll see a gradual reduction in the amount of cases,” Hawker, an administrator with the Florida Department of Health in Indian River County, said.
Hawker said the information is based on modeling software. She urged people to continue with the CDC guidelines.
“The practices that people have in practice now – we want to keep in place that social distancing, the vigilant hand washing, the vigilant use of hand sanitizer when hand washing is not available. That is so important,” she said.
While the county is using faster techniques for testing the coronavirus,
Hawker confirmed that a limited amount of tests are being shipped out. She also confirmed that they do not have test kits that can yield results in five minutes.
While the modeling software is encouraging, Hawker advised checking with Cleveland Clinic Indian River for future updates.
The state health department is still releasing coronavirus updates twice per day.
