FLORIDA — The grim milestone of 1 million COVID-19 cases — a number that continues to grow every day — has many wondering if Florida is headed in the right direction.

Former coronavirus patient Steve Gensolin is one of those million coronavirus victims in Florida.

“Its not worth celebrating, I’ll tell you that,” he said. 

When he caught it, Gensolin said the virus hit him hard.

“I was laid out for weeks," he said. "Fever, chills, body aches, nagging respiratory issues.”

Infectious disease Dr. Sajid Chaudhary said the million cases we now have is less than what he was expecting at this point of the year.

“I was expecting way more than that," Chaudhary said. "Especially with the second wave, we did not get hit that bad as other states.”

Gensolin who owns his own insurance business wasn’t as fortunate. 

“I came in to this business 25 years ago, and people always told me it was recession proof," Gensolin said. "We would always be the last people to feel if there was a problem. The pandemic touched everybody equally right off the bat. Income changed.”

As the year went on, so did the work to get out a vaccine. A literal shot in the arm to help people now and in the future.

“If everybody like a state institution they are feeling motivated and determined to vaccine everybody, or most of the people, it will take 3 to 6 months,” Chaudhary said. 

Coronavirus cases will continue to rise in the next few weeks following the holidays, but from someone who has had it, Gensolin's advice is simple.

“If you can avoid getting sick like I did, I really highly recommend it,” he said. 

Chaudhary also said that he feels Florida is doing well in his mind numbers wise because businesses are doing their part to make sure customers wear masks in their stores or offices. However, he also said the state could have had mask mandates sooner to help slow the spread.