County health expert urges end to block parties, and to get a flu shot

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — The director for the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County told commissioners Tuesday the work must continue to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Dr. Alina Alonso, during a virtual meeting with the Board of County Commissioners, said she's seeing good things.

"Within these last 14 days, we've had many days below the goal (of 10 percent lab positivity)," she said. "So that is a very good sign that we are going in the right direction."

But Alonso stressed to not let up; she said neighborhood block parties continue to be a problem.

"Every time we have one of those things, we have large numbers of people becoming positive," she said.

The county's top health expert said the 25-34 age group continues to be the fastest growing group in the county when it comes to new cases.

Alonso said the county is seeing much better contact tracing efforts due to lab results coming in quicker. But she added the percent positive rate needs to be below five percent for contact tracing to be effective. To get there, she said don't rely on contact tracing as a magic bullet. The key, Alonso says, is social distancing, face masks in public, and people following the rules to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

Alonso also urged folks to get a flu shot, saying it's "more important than ever" this year.