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Florida undercounted COVID cases and deaths, failed to get test results, state audit says
BY IAN HODGSON HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU
UPDATED JUNE 07, 2022 3:38 PM
Florida’s COVID-19 data was so inaccurate, incomplete and delayed during the first months of the pandemic that government officials and the public may not have had necessary information to determine the effectiveness of the state’s COVID-19 precautions and the best plan to fight the virus, according to a state report released Monday.
Covering the state’s pandemic response from March to October 2020, the yearlong analysis by the Florida Auditor General found missing case and death data, unreported ethnic and racial details, and incomplete contact tracing as the coronavirus spread across the state. In addition, the report concluded that state health officials did not perform routine checks on the data to ensure accuracy and did not follow up on discrepancies.
Yet one top state health official, Department of Health spokesperson Jeremy Redfern, said the Auditor General’s report was flawed.
Redfern said “some of the conclusions come from (the auditors’) misunderstanding of the purpose of different datasets,” adding that “the report does not address the huge advancements we’ve made in modernizing our reporting systems.”
more...
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article262212557.html
BY IAN HODGSON HERALD/TIMES TALLAHASSEE BUREAU
UPDATED JUNE 07, 2022 3:38 PM
Florida’s COVID-19 data was so inaccurate, incomplete and delayed during the first months of the pandemic that government officials and the public may not have had necessary information to determine the effectiveness of the state’s COVID-19 precautions and the best plan to fight the virus, according to a state report released Monday.
Covering the state’s pandemic response from March to October 2020, the yearlong analysis by the Florida Auditor General found missing case and death data, unreported ethnic and racial details, and incomplete contact tracing as the coronavirus spread across the state. In addition, the report concluded that state health officials did not perform routine checks on the data to ensure accuracy and did not follow up on discrepancies.
Yet one top state health official, Department of Health spokesperson Jeremy Redfern, said the Auditor General’s report was flawed.
Redfern said “some of the conclusions come from (the auditors’) misunderstanding of the purpose of different datasets,” adding that “the report does not address the huge advancements we’ve made in modernizing our reporting systems.”
more...
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article262212557.html