JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Over the last two days, Florida saw an increase of 17,344 COVID-19 cases and the state could reach one million cases by Monday.
But what happened over the Thanksgiving holiday isn’t included in those numbers.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Mohammed Reza says we’ll see around Christmas just how much the virus spread.
“Everything we did this weekend is not going to show up today or tomorrow,” Dr. Reza said. “About three to four weeks out is when we have to watch.”
The Regency Square Mall COVID-19 testing site reopened Friday after being closed for Thanksgiving.
People getting tested at the site told News4Jax they had to wait about an hour to get tested, and the lines weren’t nearly as long in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.
The pandemic didn’t keep people from traveling for the holiday and some weren’t interested in getting tested beforehand to check if visiting family was wise.
Dr. Reza said this holiday will expose thousands more cases in the coming weeks.
“There is concern that all these people traveled and, as I said before, this is a tricky virus. You’re asymptomatic, meaning you have no symptoms for that for 72 hours and you are quite infectious with this virus, so you are infecting your love ones (and) they don’t even know you have the virus,” he said.
Reza recommended that those who traveled out of town and want to get tested to wait about five to seven days after exposure to have a higher rate of positivity. During that time, he says you should quarantine, even if you know a family member tested positive after the holiday.
We asked News4Jax viewers if they planned on getting tested after traveling for the holiday.
While some people said they traveled, got together with family, and won’t be getting tested, others said they stayed home with family and won’t get tested unless they have symptoms.
Dr. Reza said either way, we need to be on the lookout for the spread of the virus.
“The concern is the numbers do show that we’re going back into the second peak of Covid and this may be worse than the first peak from all metrics giving the winter, the cooler months that are coming in,” he said.
Dr. Reza said even though not everybody will get sick from the virus or even have symptoms, 1-2 percent of people will get sick and ultimately die as a result.
He stressed the importance of following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines by wearing masks and practicing social distancing to limit spread before the next holiday.