CDC Updates Florida COVID Totals After Being Called Out, Number Nearly Goes Down by a Third
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday updated COVID-19 data for the state of Florida after the state insisted federal officials got it wrong.
The CDC initially reported 28,317 new cases on Sunday, far above the figure of 15,319 recorded by the state’s health department and Florida’s highest total ever. State officials said the CDC put several days worth of cases into one day.
The CDC ended up setting the number at 19,584, according to Fox News.
This is not accurate. Florida follows CDC guidelines reporting cases Monday through Friday, other than holidays. Consequently, each Monday or Tuesday, there will be two or three days of data reported at a time. When data is published, it is attributed evenly to the previous days. https://t.co/NjjUmIgM9h
— Florida Dept. Health (@HealthyFla) August 10, 2021
“It is very important that data is accurate,” said Florida’s Deputy Health Secretary Dr. Shamarial Roberson, according to Fox News.
“The people of Florida — they deserve it. We’ve been putting out accurate data since the beginning of the pandemic.”
“It’s very important to us that people know the numbers so that they can respond, and it’s important to us that we have the accurate numbers so that our public health professionals can respond,” she said.
She said she does not understand what the CDC did to botch the count.
As of Wednesday, the state and federal numbers still did not match.
The CDC reported that Florida had 23,958 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, 21,487 on Saturday and 19,584 on Sunday. State figures showed 21,500 on Friday, 19,567 on Saturday and 15,319 on Sunday, according to Yahoo.
The CDC admits on its website that it may not get it right.
“There might be discrepancies between numbers reported by CDC versus by health departments. When this occurs, data reported by health departments should be considered the most accurate,” the agency says.
CDC: You can trust our recommendations!
Also the CDC: We miscounted Florida’s data! Oops!
— Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) August 12, 2021
Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said the difference frayed nerves but did not engender a feud.
“Mistakes happen,” she said, according to the New York Post.
“We appreciate that the CDC corrected the error yesterday and published the accurate case count. Reports that the CDC and Florida’s health department are ‘feuding,’ or disagree whatsoever about Florida’s COVID numbers, are categorically false.
“That fake narrative does generate clicks, but the media should prioritize truth and accuracy in reporting over likes and retweets.”
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