Florida COVID-19 data reported by the DeSantis administration 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 an official audit report released by the state Auditor General.
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.
The results of the audit validated widespread criticism that the DeSantis administration continually misrepresented COVID-19 data during the pandemic-- many believing that it did so to align COVID-19 data with DeSantis' goal to prematurely ease lockdown measures and reopen the state.
A spokesman for the state of Florida tried to call into question the conclusions of the report, but the Department of Health has already admitted to wrongdoing, saying in an email to the Auditor General that it concurs with the report’s recommendations and says that it will improve the accuracy of future data collection. The department said it will investigate discrepancies and review data policies by the end of the year.
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