(upbeat music)
Welcome back as we head
into Thanksgiving next week
this country is seeing more
Corona virus cases every day
than ever before.
In Florida,
hospitalizations are up
and we know that more
deaths are sure to follow.
And while there is
great news coming
out almost every day on
vaccines, we are not there yet.
This week, I spoke
to dr. Eileen Marti,
an expert on infectious
diseases based at FIU.
The nation is absolutely heading
in the wrong direction
with this pandemic.
unfortunate, large percentage
of people who have elected
public health measures that
can protect them and others.
And as long as we can't figure
out how to move
forward with this
that if we want an open economy
if we want to succeed
against this pandemic
there are really
minor things that all
of us should be doing
so that we can move on
with our lives and that we
need to do this, especially now
when we're so close
to the finish line
of having a good, safe,
and effective vaccine
and ever better
pharmaceuticals to deal
with people who are ill.
And in Florida,
at what's happening
in Florida and the
and the governor's
response, I know
that there were a number
of mayors who wrote
to the governor saying that
since he sort of opened
up widely and prevented
local elected officials
from enacting sort of
rules and regulations
designed to help their
own individual communities
since the governor
took those steps
we've seen a market increase
what needs to happen
at the state level.
And what's your concern here
in South Florida in particular.
My big concern is
if Florida gets back
into a level of numbers
of cases that our healthcare
system gets overwhelmed.
And I think that
anyone who considers
spreading this virus
widely is a good idea,
should recognize
that as cases go up
there's going to be a percentage
of cases of individuals
people who end up in
the hospital, very sick.
And the more of those people
that are in the hospital
sick because of COVID-19,
it does a whole bunch
of bad to our entire
healthcare system
which in turn has a whole bunch
of bad effects in
terms of our economy.
So what am I saying?
I'm saying that if it, as
the number of cases go up
you have a shortage of
doctors, nurses, technicians
supplies, beds, everything,
PPE, and all of this
not only impacts
it impacts all of healthcare
because a shortage of doctors
a shortage of bag there's
a shortage of supplies.
of all of these
things to go around.
And when everything
is in short supply
the quality of care
for everyone goes down.
But the governor's strategy
seems to be, to say
we will protect the
most vulnerable,
but open things up otherwise.
He denies that it's a
herd immunity strategy.
Would you consider what
the governor is doing to
be trying to achieve
herd immunity?
Well, first of all, you're not
gonna achieve herd immunity
by letting a wild
virus go loose.
We have countless examples
of other infectious diseases
that we know have been
on the planet for thousands
of years, and we never
obtained anything that could
be called herd immunity
from those different pathogens
until we develop safe
and effective vaccines.
For example, polio polio
is a perfect example
of disease that you
can visualize in
Egyptian hieroglyphics.
And it continued to be a problem
until we develop a safe
and effective vaccine.
That is what we really
We mean, we obtain it in a safe
and effective manner where
we induce the right kind
of immunity in people
that is protective
to our entire community.
Well, isn't that, isn't
that where we are now
with all these new
stories that we're seeing
about how good the vaccines
are that are, that are coming
down the road, does, are you
afraid that that sends a signal
to people that they don't
need to be as careful
because there's a vaccine
that's just around the corner,
in and save the day.
It's not here yet.
That's number one.
And number two, the, the
a vaccine coming is all the more
reason to protect yourself now.
So many of the
people who have gone
through COVID-19 are ending