Florida is now the epicenter for transmission of the supertransmissible delta variant. This is the most severe COVID-19 pandemic in Florida's history. Hospitalizations are at an all-time high, and the number of deaths is on the rise.Instead of focusing on the urgent public health crisis, state officials seem to be fighting over data and measures to combat it.Florida's Health Department blasted media outlets for reporting on the latest COVID-19 case counts for the state. The counts were relayed to them by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Again, wrong. It is not correct to give Florida the number of cases that @CDCgov has released today. They combined MULTIPLE days to create one. The record will be corrected by the CDC, we believe. https://t.co/nbKnBNLzvU Florida Dept. https://t.co/nbKnBNLzvU Florida Dept.The CDC, which receives its data from Florida's Health Department, reported that the state had reached all-time highs in August with nearly 24,000 new cases and more than 28,000 new cases daily on August 7. The CDC numbers were disputed by the health department. It doesn't publish daily case numbers. According to the Twitter account of the health department, 21,500 cases were logged by the state on August 6. 19,567 cases were logged on August 7. and 15,319 cases on Aug 8. According to the health department, three days worth of new cases totals had been split by the CDC in an error.Federal responseThe CDC updated case counts for the disputed day on Tuesday. However, they were still higher that what Florida's health department claimed on Twitter. The CDC reports that Florida still has nearly 24,000 daily cases on August 6. However, the number of cases on August 7 was only 21,487 and August 8 was 19,584. The CDC reports that Florida had 15,322 cases in August 9th.AdvertisementThe CDC adjusted its calculation of the state’s 7-day rolling average of daily new cases on August 8, from approximately 22,500 to 20,000, based on the new numbers. These averages remain at all-time highs in the state.Twitter users pointed out that this dust-up could've been avoided if Florida had reported its daily data. Because cases were declining and vaccines were readily available, the state stopped reporting that data on June 4.Although the state of pandemics has dramatically changed, the facts are still the same in Florida. Republican Governor. Ron DeSantis continues to fight with local leaders, businesses, and other stakeholders over his bans for vaccination passports and mandates for masks in schools.Although several Florida school districts have already begun to require masks for students and staff, DeSantis has reacted. He threatened to withhold the pay of superintendents and school board members who violated his ban on masks.School board members and superintendents are fighting back already. One member of Florida's Broward County school board told DeSantis that he would bring the mask mandate after it was voted 8-1 Tuesday by Broward County officials.Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, suggested Tuesday that federal funds could compensate any school officials who were paid for the implementation of mask mandates. DeSantis was also addressed directly by Jen Psaki, echoing earlier statements of President Joe Biden that "if you don't want to follow the public health guidelines for protecting the lives of people living in your state... then get away."
