Florida to investigate all COVID-19 deaths after questions about ‘integrity’ of data https://www.sun-sentinel.com/corona...0201021-r52k7q2th5dnvf3ywfeljroaby-story.html Florida, which has reported the deaths of over 16,400 people from COVID-19, now says the public may not be able to trust any of those numbers. The state Department of Health on Wednesday ordered an investigation of all pandemic fatalities, one week after House Speaker Jose Oliva slammed the death data from medical examiners as “often lacking in rigor” and undermining "the completeness and reliability of the death records.” House Democrats then blasted the House Republicans' report as an insult to coronavirus victims and an attempt “to downplay the death toll.” The political battle over COVID-19 death reporting — and now the new review — follows Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push for a full reopening of the state’s businesses and tourist attractions and a picture of the virus being so under control, Tampa should host a packed Super Bowl in early February. Health officials on Wednesday announced that “fatality data reported to the state consistently presents confusion and warrants a more rigorous review.” The review is necessary to “ensure data integrity,” they said. The state delayed the release of its daily coronavirus data about cases and deaths for over five hours because of the developing situation. Scrutinizing the data In a news release, officials highlighted concerns about 95 deaths reported to the state on Tuesday. The department said 16 of the deaths occurred more than two months after the person tested positive, and 11 people died more than a month ago. And in five cases, there was a three-month gap between the time of infection and death. Palm Beach County had 50 of the COVID-19 deaths in the latest report, which shattered the previous one-day record of 27 deaths reported Aug. 7. The state says it just learned about an 85-year-old Palm Beach County woman who died Sept. 27 — 3½ months after she was diagnosed with COVID-19. In another case, an 87-year-old county woman died Oct. 1, more than three months after her positive test on June 25. RELATED: Florida puts a positive spin on COVID-19 data, misleading the public on pandemic » The issue involves numerous other counties, such as the new report of a 58-year-old Miami-Dade woman who tested positive June 23 and died Oct. 6. There were no Broward irregularities listed. These delays raise red flags that have to be examined, according to Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees. “During a pandemic, the public must be able to rely on accurate public health data to make informed decisions,” Rivkees said in a statement. "To ensure the accuracy of COVID-19 related deaths, the Department will be performing additional reviews of all deaths. Timely and accurate data remains a top priority of the Department of Health.” ‘Is that a COVID death?’ DeSantis spokesman Fred Piccolo Jr. told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday that officials have been struggling to get timely data. He said they’ve been running into the issue of labs reporting on one day the results of positive tests from weeks before. “That’s a problem,” he said because it makes it harder to spot trends. What is different about the deaths, is that the health department was finding people who were admitted as positive as far back as March or April and who passed away in August or September or October. “Is that a COVID death?” “It presented a new kind of red flag,” Piccolo said. He said there wasn’t ever such a large gap between someone testing positive for COVID and when they passed away. He said he expects skepticism about Wednesday’s action. “They think we manipulate the data and everything else," Piccolo said. "But it’s really one of those things that you gotta know if someone is dying of COVID or if they’re not. Then you can legitimately say, here are the numbers.” He said they realized that something was off in the numbers when they received Tuesday night’s data on Wednesday morning. He said when they looked into the data they were finding people who tested positive way back in the beginning of the pandemic but were listed as having died of COVID in October. “It’s just a matter of making sure we’re cataloging things the right way,” he explained. Seeking timely figures Local health officials said the state health department has asked them for weeks to work harder at reporting death data in a timely manner and make sure that COVID-19 is the actual cause of death, rather than a gunshot wound, car accident or other injury. All deaths entered into the health data system are supposed to be reviewed by an epidemiologist to avoid errors. In most counties, the backlog in medical examiners offices has been cleared, leading Rivkees to question on Wednesday why a COVID-19 death during the summer months would be reported now. Darren Caprara, director of operations at Miami Dade County Medical Examiner Office, said that as of Aug. 15, the state medical examiner’s commission no longer made it their responsibility to certify COVID-19 deaths. He said they certify only deaths that come to their office from regular channels, such as a presumed homicide, a presumed accident or no primary care physician. “Our COVID exposure, in terms of the number of cases that we are certifying, dropped drastically,” Caprara said, adding they are no longer the “gate guard” from a medical examiner standpoint. He said at this point, the people certifying COVID deaths in most cases are primary care providers. Paul Petrino, operations manager for the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office, said he is not sure whether primary care doctors might be taking longer than county medical examiner’s offices to process COVID deaths. “I can’t account for the level of review that they are doing now,” he said. Petrino said a county medical examiner tends to process bodies quickly. “We have to complete death certificates and keep the process moving.” He said he can’t account for how timely other doctors are. “But I think, obviously, we are in the business of processing bodies that way.” He said he’s wondering about the reporting delays. “I’m curious, too, what is broken in the system," Petrino said. "Especially in Palm Beach County where it stands out so much.” Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Democrat, said the death data may not match the narrative that the governor wants to reflect — a portrait of COVID-19 being in the rearview mirror. But “there are ways to deal with the issues they are raising other than choosing to massage the information, which is very dangerous,” Rodriguez said. If there is a delay in reporting death information, that still is no reason to discount the data, he said. “Because the data took as long as two months to arrive is not a reason not to report it,” said Rodriguez. “The only conclusion to draw is maybe the portal needs to be more robust.” The latest data State health officials meanwhile reported 2,145 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, which was down from Tuesday’s tally of 3,662 new infections. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, the state Department of Health has reported 762,534 people have tested positive for the highly contagious disease. Also as of Wednesday, 16,210 residents and 203 non-residents have died from COVID-19 illness, according to the state figures that are now under scrutiny.
Many in the medical industry knew that was happening. And the word is... the the hospitals were feeling pressured to report everything as Covid since we were shutdown anyway. And the medical professionals were told to keep quiet. Now... however because the medicals pros saw the damage to their patients and the administrators saw the damage to the bottom line. (some hospitals were going broke) Hospital by hospital by hospital is now changing back to only reporting real Covid deaths.
"DeSantis for the win" -- the DeSantis administration once again attempts to deliberately hide information from the public. As White House task force warns Florida of possible COVID-19 uptick, state tries to keep report from public https://www.orlandosentinel.com/cor...0201023-mpsp7pbowbdmlpgalirwjoeatu-story.html There are “early warning signs” that COVID-19 cases are ticking up in Florida – in the Villages and several counties, including Brevard – and the state should be closely tracking the data and reacting with “increased mitigation” in those areas, according to a little-known report that the White House Coronavirus Task Force sends Florida each week. “Testing must increase statewide," the report recommends. For nearly five months now, the task force, which was formed earlier this year and is chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, has been sending a detailed COVID-19 report to all state governors, providing county and state-level trends and a series of recommendations. But Florida is among more than a dozen states to withhold those reports from the public. On Oct. 16, after the Orlando Sentinel asked Gov. Ron DeSantis' office for the latest task force report, it took getting the Sentinel’s lawyers involved and five work days before the state released its Oct. 11 Task Force report on Thursday. The report covers the week of Oct. 5 and it’s not clear if the document is the latest available report sent to DeSantis' office. It’s also not clear whether DeSantis has followed through with the report’s recommendations, how he incorporates the report into his pandemic strategy or how widely it is distributed among counties, cities and other institutions. After looking at the report, Dr. Mary Jo Trepka, professor and chair of Department of Epidemiology at Florida International University, said that none of the data points in the report are surprising. “What is here that we don’t normally have access to is the expert guidance from the federal government,” said Trepka. “These are all very good recommendations, and I think that the public has a right to know what our federal government is recommending for the state and know how we’re doing in terms of following these recommendations and if we’re not following them, then is there a justification for that?" The Sentinel sent several questions to DeSantis' office about the report on Friday and received an emailed statement back. “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor DeSantis has coordinated with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and experts at the local, state and federal levels, as well as those in the private sector, to protect Florida’s most vulnerable residents and guide our state through this unprecedented public health emergency,” said the statement from his office. “Since March, he has traveled the state on a near-daily basis, urging best health practices and encouraging vigilance against COVID-19.” State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said although she had heard about the reports, she didn’t realize that they were being released weekly. “It’s not like the governor references it at all during any type of press conference or regular presentation, and I’m sure it was intentionally kept in the dark because the governor is making decisions based on this own political preference and not based on any type of data or science,” she said. The Oct. 11 task force report highlighted a continuing spread of the virus in Florida through social gatherings. "People must remember that seemingly uninfected members and friends may be infected but asymptomatic,” the report says. “Encourage outdoor activities and ensure mask and physical distancing messages for all residents, both in public and private spaces.” Some of report’s recommendations are echoed by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and Dr. Raul Pino, the state’s health officer in Orange. Pino on Thursday said 30 people went to a birthday party in Avalon Park and half later tested positive for COVID-19. That news came just one day after the school district said the east Orange neighborhood’s high school, Timber Creek, would close for two weeks following cases found on the campus. The task force report also recommends the use of antigen testing for people who are at a higher risk of catching the virus, including K-12 teachers, staff working at nursing homes and assisted living facilities, prison staff and first responders. The state is receiving more than 6 million rapid antigen tests – about 400,000 a week -- and the state-run testing sites such as the one at the Orange County Convention Center are already using them, also distributed to assisted living facilities and schools. And it recommends routine testing of college students. “Increase percent of students screened each week to 20% if test positivity of asymptomatic students is greater than 10%,” the report recommends. “Ensure university students continue their mitigation behaviors to ensure no further outbreaks on or off campus.” The state must report all positive antigen tests and the total number of antigen tests performed, according to the report. Florida currently lumps together PCR and antigen testing results, and it’s not clear if the task force wants the state to report those numbers separately. The report also provides a summary of cases, test positivity and deaths: When it comes to classifying the status of the state and its counties, the report uses five colors: dark green, light green, yellow, orange and red, indicating the rate of increase in cases and test positivity. As of Oct. 11, Florida was in the orange zone for cases and in the green zone for test positivity. As of Oct. 11, Florida ranked 31st in the nation for new cases per 100,000 people and 28th for test positivity. The state ranked sixth in the nation for new deaths per 100,000. State officials have begun to cast doubt on the accuracy of COVID death numbers, ordering an investigation of all COVID deaths. As of Oct. 11, Miami-Dade, Broward and Hillsborough counties had the highest number of new cases over the last three weeks, accounting for nearly 30% of new cases in Florida. Orange County ranked fourth. As of Oct. 11, six counties -- Baker, Hardee, Union, Taylor, Glades and Franklin -- were in the red zone. Columbia, Hendry and Hamilton counties were in the orange zone. And 26 counties, including Orange, Polk and Osceola were in the yellow zone. Between Oct. 3 and Oct. 9, on average 669 patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 were admitted each day to hospitals in Florida. More than 95% of hospitals reported new confirmed or suspected COVID patients each day during this time. More than half of all counties in Florida have moderate or high levels of community transmission. Eskamani urged DeSantis to make the weekly report “readily available for every county official and every member of the public.” “This information should be accessible so we can all benefit from the same amount of information and make decisions based on the best medical advice and not political rhetoric,” she said.
"DeSantis for the win" -- the only state where the governor is continually criticized for having his administration deliberately hide COVID data. Ron DeSantis has a solution to bad COVID-19 numbers in Florida: He's going to hide the numbers https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...ers-in-Florida-He-s-going-to-hide-the-numbers On Thursday, Florida reported over 5,500 new cases of COVID-19—and the day isn’t over yet. The number is higher than anything the state has posted since the first half of August, but it reflects a fresh surge that’s keeping the state at an average of around 100 deaths per day and steadily moving it up the Worst States charts. In the next two days, Florida will likely pass New Jersey to take over the No. 4 slot in total deaths. It’s already reached the No. 3 spot in total cases. And it’s by far the largest state when it comes to the top 10 in cases per population. What’s a Donald Trump-loving, science-hating Republican governor to do? Well, Ron DeSantis has already been trying to follow Trump’s advice to do less testing. Florida is currently testing at the lowest rate of any state, with just one test per 1,000 residents. With cases skyrocketing despite the lowest rate of testing in the nation, DeSantis has only one choice: He has to get sensible, order a statewide mask mandate, cut down mass gatherings, and place restrictions on bars and restaurants. Except DeSantis isn’t going to do any of that. Because he’s come up with an alternative: He’s going to stop reporting the numbers. As WFLA 8 reports, DeSantis says it’s time to “scale back the report frequency.” He’s promising that the data will still be collected. It just won’t be … visible. If daily data is too much for people to stand, just how often would DeSantis share what’s happening in his state? He doesn’t say. Epidemiologists warned that not having numbers from Florida would mean losing visibility of the epidemic in one of the nation’s most populous states. That could affect everything from local hospital planning, to restrictions and considerations in other states. Taking Florida off the books would place an enormous hole in the nationwide understanding of what is going on, and open the possibility that the state is becoming an even bigger hotspot while covering up the truth. This is just another step along the cover-up path for DeSantis. Back in May, he ordered county medical examiners to stop releasing daily reports on deaths. This information had been available since … ever, but is no longer visible. Instead, deaths are reported after being massaged by DeSantis’ team at the state level. That same month, DeSantis also forced analysts to change numbers on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. A month later, he fired the data scientist who created that dashboard and cut back on the information being provided. DeSantis’ updated version of the dashboard removed information on hospital admissions, emergency room admissions, and available ICU beds. And since Trump took the daily reporting from hospitals away from the Centers for Disease Control and handed it over to a private company owned by a Republican donor, there are good reasons to doubt that any information coming out of Florida is accurate. This is fine .. this is all fine. People in Florida surely won’t be concerned about having data on a deadly disease hidden from them. Vote appropriately, Florida.
Florida's response to pandemic? Just stop it (from being reported) https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story...d-news-floridas-response-pandemic/3744504001/ Gov. Ron DeSantis is considering a new strategy in fighting COVID-19 in Florida. Eliminate the daily reporting of cases. As a medical strategy, it has some flaws. But as a public relations gambit, it’s better than President Donald Trump’s “rounding the corner” tact, which has some limitations. Geometry fact: After “rounding the corner” four times, you’re back where you started. Trump announced Thursday night at the last televised presidential debate that we Floridians had some good news. “There was a spike in Florida, and now it’s gone,” Trump said. He must have been talking about some other Florida. Because the one we live in recorded a spike of 5,558 new cases that day, far higher than the new 1,533 cases recorded in the state just 10 days earlier. More: Florida coronavirus cases once again top 5,000 in one day Palm Beach County logged the most new cases of COVID-19 it has seen in six weeks. Where is this “Florida” he speaks of? Trump has a history of talking about this mythical Florida. “The numbers are coming down and coming down very substantially,” Trump said on July 30. “They’re starting to come down in Florida.” Trump made these remarks a day after the real Florida recorded what was then the highest daily death toll in the state. That’s not a good strategy. When you keep saying “up” is “down” people eventually notice. Better to say nothing at all, which apparently is sounding better and better to DeSantis, who is considering replacing the state’s daily COVID-19 updates with weekly updates. “There are discussions ongoing as to when is the best time to scale back the report frequency,” the governor’s spokesman said in an email to an Orlando TV news station this week. “The reasoning behind it is because it requires 24-hour staffing. “Information won’t change and the quality of the data will remain paramount.” What would change is the frequency of the information. If the state had good news to report on COVID-19, it would welcome daily news stories about the low and decreasing numbers of new cases. But with the cases going up, as they are, more reporting just means more public awareness of bad news. Changing the frequency of bad news stories from a daily basis to a weekly basis is a political move, not a scientific one. If you were really interested in warning people about the rising spread of the contagious disease, you’d want more, not less, reporting of new cases. You’d want that daily reminder to Floridians that the pandemic is spreading around them, which means that wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and avoiding super-spreader events is more important than ever. But if your primary concern is to restart the economy, even if it means doing so in a reckless, rushed, anti-scientific manner, then less reporting of a worsening health crisis is what’s needed. And it’s only slightly less dubious than what Florida is already doing with the COVID-19 numbers. An important indicator of the spread of the virus is the “positivity rate,” which measures positive tests as a fraction of tests taken. The idea with testing is to make it widely available, so that people who experience symptoms of the virus can get tested right away. This lessens the likelihood of community spread of the virus. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health put it this way: “A higher percent positive suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with coronavirus in the community who haven’t been tested yet.” “The percent positive is a critical measure because it gives us an indication how widespread infection is in the area where the testing is occurring — and whether levels of testing are keeping up with levels of disease transmission.” And Florida’s been cooking the data on this critical measure. Positivity rates should be below 5 percent for two weeks before governments consider reopening, scientists say. If you go to the state’s COVID-19 website, it shows that Florida is hovering near that mark. Wednesday’s rate was listed at 5.62 percent, and in the previous 29 continuous days of tracking, the positivity rate for Florida was below the magic 5-percent mark a total of 20 days, with the lowest daily positivity rate of 3.44 percent on Oct. 10. Sounds like good news, until you go to the Johns Hopkins data tracking positivity rates in states. The seven-day moving averages of positivity rates in Florida during that same period are reported to be hovering at or above 10 percent on the Johns Hopkins site. There’s a stark difference in numbers. The state’s 5.62 percent this past week is recorded as nearly 12.9 percent on the Johns Hopkins site. Florida’s numbers show a state that’s on the precipice of being safe to fully re-open, while the Johns Hopkins site shows a state still in the grip of community spread. “A high percent positive means that more testing should probably be done — and it suggests that it is not a good time to relax restrictions aimed at reducing coronavirus transmission,” the Johns Hopkins site says. “Because a high percentage of positive tests suggests high coronavirus infection rates (due to high transmission in the community), a high percent positive can indicate it may be a good time to add restrictions to slow the spread of disease.” If your aim is to open up, no matter what, you have to monkey with the numbers that suggest you need to take more, not fewer, precautions. And that’s what Florida has done. The way to get a fraction lower is to find a way to increase the denominator of the fraction. The way Florida does that is to count positive tests just once, but negative tests repeatedly for that same person. So, let’s say you test positive for COVID-19, and you go back days later and get a subsequent test that also comes back positive. Only the first test counts as a positive. That makes sense. But let’s say that same person gets three negative tests before returning to his or her work place. Florida counts each of those negative tests. So, by counting every negative test (even repeated tests to the same person), the state of Florida has artificially lowered the positivity rate. By contrast, the Johns Hopkins rate is a percentage of all the people with positive tests on that day out of all the people tested for the first time. That’s a scientifically useful number. But it’s not useful to DeSantis, who has already promised a full Super Bowl stadium in Tampa in February. As the virus makes a comeback this fall, maybe even cooking the numbers of the positivity rate will become difficult to manage. That’s probably why the next step will be to eliminate daily updates. This way, the bad news comes just once a week. And for the other six days, we Floridians can be reassured that when it comes to the virus, we are “rounding the corner.”
This thread is a waste of time. It boils down to either you think: A. We should have more lockdown measures in place which may reduce case count and resulting COVID deaths but will have more harm on economic activity and people's livelihoods. B. We should have fewer or no lockdown measures in place which may have more COVID cases and resulting deaths but will not harm economic activity and people's livelihoods. Where you fall between A and B will determine how you think DeSantis is doing.