Fla. officials want COVID-19 report under wraps
There are “earlywarning 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 Forces ends Florida each week.
“Testing must increase statewide ,” the report recommends.
For nearly fivemonths now, the task force, which was formed earlier this year an disc haired by Vice President Mike Pen ce, 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 De San tis 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 T re pk a, 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 knowwhat 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 Corona virus 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 fromhis office. “Since March, he has traveled the state on a neardaily 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.
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 6million 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.
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.
Es kama ni urged De San tis to make theweekly 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.