MIAMI – The line for COVID-19 testing was endless at Tropical Park on Wednesday.
Cars snaked through the park, all the way outside the entrance.
Now, some are starting to feel the impact that the novel coronavirus is having on this year’s Thanksgiving.
FIU Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Aileen Marty is sounding the alarm about COVID-19 on the rise throughout the country and in Florida, where cases have jumped 18% in the past week.
“We are failing,” she said. “We are failing because of a lack of understanding about how serious this is and how important it is to get the pandemic under control.”
A grim prognosis just two weeks ahead of Thanksgiving, as the CDC is warning small household gatherings are a contributor to the rise in cases.
People are being urged to host outdoor gatherings when possible, to avoid crowded spaces and require guests to wear masks when not eating or drinking.
Ellen Jameson will be celebrating outdoors and said she plans to socially distance.
“I gather together with an international set of my friends and we always go down to the beach,” Jameson said.
Alex Corletto told Local 10 he plans to stay home this thanksgiving.
“My grandmother passed from COVID two months ago,” he said.
Corletto interacts with customers at a scooter business and doesn’t want to risk infecting others as his family tries to get through this holiday season.
“She was the one that put us together at all family gatherings,” he said of his grandmother. “Now it’s just different, an empty chair.”