| RIPTIDE | ▼ MIAMI-DADE ILL WILL MIAMI-DADE BRACES FOR “SIXTH WAVE” OF COVID-19. BY JESS SWANSON cases began a steady week-by-week decline and by mid-March, the rates were at the low- est they’ve ever been: 2 percent seven-day case positivity. For a while, it seemed the end of the pandemic was finally in sight as restric- tions about mandatory facial coverings and social gatherings loosened. Unfortunately, if there was a light at the A end of the tunnel, we can’t see it any more. Miami-Dade’s seven-day case positivity has slowly risen each week for the past two months. It’s now at 22 percent, according to the county’s latest COVID-19 dashboard released last week — the highest level since January —and the numbers are expected to continue rising. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists the level of community transition in Miami- Dade as “High.” Dr. Aileen Marty, a distinguished profes- sor of infectious diseases at Florida Interna- tional University and a COVID-19 advisor to Miami and Miami-Dade County, tells New Times that South Florida is not only in the midst of its “sixth wave” of COVID-19 but that the rate is likely much higher than the numbers indicate, given the significant num- ber of people who use at-home kits and who aren’t reporting the results to the Florida De- partment of Health’s and CDC’s official counts. GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS ▼ MIAMI-DADE ROAD HAZARD dillos for their vaguely similar shape — to keep cars from drifting into the bike lane on the Vene- tian Causeway. Though they’re intended to keep pedestri- A ans safe, one Miami Beach resident says they had the opposite effect. An encounter with an armadillo on his electric scooter in February left Anthony Penalta with a broken leg that has required two surgeries to repair. As Miami- Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava promised to improve safety measures on the Rickenbacker Causeway following the recent INJURED SCOOTERIST SAYS VENETIAN’S “ARMADILLO” SAFETY BUMPS CAUSED HIM TO CRASH. BY JENNA FARHAT t the end of last year, Miami-Dade County installed relatively small, striped plastic barriers — called arma- fter the Omicron surge hit Mi- ami-Dade County in January and the seven-day case posi- tivity rate peaked at a whop- ping 35 percent, COVID-19 “We’re not as high as we were during the peak of Omicron but we’re still pretty high, and our case positivity is definitely an under- count,” Marty elaborates. “It’s definitely something that’s growing.” According to the Florida Department of Health, Miami-Dade has one of the highest rates of first-dose vaccination in the state: 99 percent among residents 5 years old and up. By now, roughly half of all Miami-Dade resi- dents have contracted COVID-19 at least once since March 2020. Though both are promising stats about the region’s infection- and vaccinated-induced immunity, the SARS-CoV-2 virus is constantly mutating, and new, emerging variants neutralize and limit the effectiveness of antibodies over time. Some speculate that herd immunity — i.e., when enough people have developed a resistance to the virus to limit its ability to spread — is now a myth where COVID-19 is concerned. “It’s a coronavirus, and we have known for decades that immunity doesn’t last,” Marty says. The Jackson and Baptist Health health systems are reporting a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations: 122 and 117 patients are hospitalized for COVID-19, respectively. The vast majority — 76 percent — are unvaccinated, Marty says; the remaining 24 percent of patients are vaccinated but “immunocompromised” or have “a significant underlying disease.” “I spoke to the folks at Jackson and Baptist and they’re seeing a really significant increase,” Marty tells New Times. “It’s less of a public-health threat than it was because the percentage of people who are likely to end up hospitalized has decreased dramatically because of previous infection, vaccination, and boosting.” For now, Marty recommends individuals perform their own “risk assessment” before going out in public, evaluating the risk of ex- posure for each outing, and the age, health, deaths of Yaudys Vera and Ogniana Reyes, Penalta wants to share the details about his mishap as a cautionary tale. “These [armadillos] are sitting like, four or five inches off the ground,” Penalta, 60, tells New Times. “It’s almost like they want you to have an accident.” Following the passage of HB 453 in 2019, electric scooters can be ridden in bike lanes and on sidewalks. Penalta, who uses an electric scooter as his primary mode of transportation, is a critic of the new armadillos. And he isn’t alone: Since their installation, these little plastic humps have divided the city’s cycling ranks, and a peti- tion to remove them has already garnered more than 1,600 signatures. “I did 13 years in the army and I didn’t injure myself,” Penalta says. “These [armadillos] are a nightmare.” Though proponents of the armadillos argue they’ll keep cars out of the bike lane and protect nonvehicular traffic from faster-moving vehicles, Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty and vaccine status of people they might ex- pose if they’re infected. She recommends re- ceiving a booster shot two weeks before attending an event with a high risk of expo- sure, such as a wedding. (If a person contracts COVID-19, Marty recommends waiting at least 33 days after testing negative to receive a vaccine or booster dose.) “Now that we’re officially at 22 percent, those are very high odds of being anywhere with strangers indoors who are shedding the virus,” she says. In the meantime, Marty urges residents to continue “common sense” practices, “IT’S ALMOST LIKE THEY WANT YOU TO HAVE AN ACCIDENT.” some cyclists seem to be more concerned with what happens should their front tire come into contact with one of the barriers when passing slower commuters, especially at higher speeds. On top of that, Penalta says, the black-and- white striped armadil- los are hard to see on the road at night. It was roughly 10 p.m. on Feb- ruary 22 when he bumped the armadillo on his scooter. “It’s dark outside, and these things are black,” he explains. “There’s reflective tape, but there’s not really anything that’s reflected.” When Penalta realized he was hurt too badly to walk, he called a Lyft to take him to the near- est Veterans Affairs hospital. “Everything after that is like a dream,” he re- counts. “Next thing I know, I’m looking at my leg, and it didn’t look good. My leg was not straight Miami-Dade’s seven-day case positivity has risen each week for the past two months. including gathering outdoors rather than indoors, washing your hands, and wearing facial coverings when indoors. Not only is there an uptick in COVID-19 cases, Marty notes, but other viruses are also quickly spreading after years of social distancing have kept them at bay. “We’re seeing skyrocketing flu amounts,” the public-health expert says. “We’ve never seen this much influenza this time of the year.” — like something was definitely wrong.” As it turned out, Penalta had fractured his tib- ial plateau, the flat portion at the top of the tibia where it meets the femur. The following morn- ing, he was moved to a different hospital, where he underwent surgery to immobilize the knee joint. Three days later, after the swelling went down, a second surgery was performed to install rods and plates in his leg. Now, 12 screws and two plates hold the tp of his tibia bone in place. Nearly three months after the accident, he still can’t place weight on his in- jured leg. Penalta hopes Miami-Dade County removes the armadillos before someone else is injured or possibly killed after hitting one, and that they’re not installed on the Rickenbacker Causeway as a so-called safety measure. “Listen to the voices,” he says. “Those things are deadly.” [email protected] 33 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com miaminewtimes.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | MIAMI NEW TIMES NEW TIMES MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 JUNE 16-JUNE 22, 2022
