Lamenting the slow rollout of social distancing in Florida and restrictions on spring break, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez on Newsmax TV announced he has tested positive for coronavirus and pleads with Americans to stay vigilant with social distancing protocols.
"I'm doing very; I'm very blessed," Suarez told Tuesday's "American Agenda." "This has been a mild case.
"I'm very fortunate that I am in an 80% category that experiences mild symptoms," he added.
Suarez reported he has had no fever or sore throat, just treatable congestion and aches, and has unfortunately tested positive in an ensuing test requiring him to stay in quarantine longer. The problem — there are likely many similarly infected who are unwittingly endangering Florida's most vulnerable, particularly the elderly.
"It's incredible, it's inconceivable to me, I can be only the second person that tested positive in Miami-Dade County," he said. "That just means to me, there's a lot more people that have it, asymptomatic.
"I took the test because I was in a delegation, a Brazilian delegation, where it seems over 40 people have tested positive that were in that delegation."
While not criticizing GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, Suarez said the response to the global coronavirus pandemic requires regional approaches that differ from heavily infected, densely populated urban areas.
"He has over half the state with little or no cases," Suarez said, adding it is up to local officials to manage the spread of the virus in their own ways.
Florida is a highly trafficked tourism destination and has very different locales and level of infection throughout the state.
"We have people that are flying in from areas. There is high infection rates that can be infecting our population," Suarez added, referring to Gov. DeSantis' warnings on travel from New York requiring isolation to the protect the local community.
Suarez was one of the first mayors in America to close down major events including two large music festivals. He said President Donald Trump's Easter target date (April 12) for getting the country out of self-isolation will have to be made over time and with regional policy.
"There's downstream consequences to decisions that are being made," Suarez said of the economic impact of the pandemic. "I think we have to take this on a week to week basis.
"We're analyzing it day to day and week to week, and as soon as we feel comfortable where people can go back to work, we're going to put people back to work," he added. "But we're not going to do it one day before that."
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