As the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb, there is some disagreement as to why that's happening.
The Director of the Health Department in Palm Beach County set the record straight during Tuesday's county commission meeting.
"When you hear people telling you the test numbers are going up because we're testing more, that is not the whole picture. The positivity tells you that that is not true."
The county's positivity rate has increased to 8.9 percent and Dr. Alina Alonso blames it people not following social distancing guidelines and refusing to wear masks.
"The virus now has food out there. It has people that are out there without masks, without maintaining distancing and so it's infecting more people."
But she is NOT suggesting that the county go back into lockdown mode.
"Broward and Miami are in the same situation. Actually some folks have called for going backwards and closing some places. I would not like to see places closing."
Instead, she's suggesting that the county wait four weeks before heading into Phase 2 of the reopening process and assess the situation then.
In the meantime, she wants the county to launch an education campaign, utilizing Public Service Announcements and other things to get the message to the community that they need to wear masks.
Alonso says people need to get used to wearing face coverings when social distancing is not possible until there is a vaccine for COVID-19.
Commissioner Gregg Weiss suggested an executive order.
"I would like to see us mandate that masks be worn inside of all buildings in Palm Beach County."
Vice Mayor Robert Weinroth says mandating masks is not the answer.
"We need to allow people to make their own decisions."
After about three hours of discussion, County Mayor Dave Kerner agreed with Weinroth and fellow Commissioner Hal Valeche that they should not go ahead with a vote on mandating masks for now, though the topic will be revisiting next week.
Kerner says more than 6 million masks have been purchased by the county and they will be distributed to businesses so they can pass them on to customers.
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