When COVID-19 roared back to life across Florida in mid-June after several weeks of relative quiet, Miami-Dade County quickly became a hot spot far exceeding other parts of the state, despite a more cautious reopening and a relatively early shutdown order.
Public health experts say there likely is no single reason why Miami-Dade has seen the highest number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 in Florida. They say robust contact tracing can provide clues, but without details from Florida’s health department to identify where outbreaks are occurring and among whom, they can only offer theories — from so-called “super spreading events,” to the socioeconomic conditions of the region and migration patterns.
“”This is the reason we do case investigations,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a public health epidemiologist with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “We don’t just collect numbers of cases, we ... find out who they are and why did they get sick, and how did they get sick.”'
Read more at our news partner at the Miami Herald.
