The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has fixed an error in its reporting of Florida’s COVID numbers over the weekend, which combined multiple days worth of cases into one, making it appear that Florida had its highest one-day count of new cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
“Florida has again broken a record when it comes to COVID-19 cases,” reported WSVN in Miami on Monday. “The state reported 28,317 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday to the Centers for Disease Control.”
The Florida Department of Health called out the CDC for its error.
“Wrong again. The number of cases [the CDC] released for Florida today is incorrect. They combined MULTIPLE days into one,” they tweeted. “We anticipate CDC will correct the record.”
Wrong again. The number of cases @CDCgov released for Florida today is incorrect. They combined MULTIPLE days into one. We anticipate CDC will correct the record. https://t.co/nbKnBNLzvU
— Florida Dept. Health (@HealthyFla) August 10, 2021
The daily case counts for Florida currently posted on the CDC COVID Tracker are incorrect. The current listing states 28,317.
The accurate data are as follows:
Friday, August 6: 21,500
Saturday August 7: 19,567
Sunday, August 8: 15,319The 3 day average: 18,795
— Florida Dept. Health (@HealthyFla) August 10, 2021
And correct the record the CDC did, finally. At some point on Tuesday, the CDC adjusted Florida’s number down to 19,584. This is good, but this comes after a ton of media coverage on the faulty numbers.
The Florida Department of Health notes that they follow CDC guidelines for reporting cases Monday through Friday, excluding 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.”
So, how did this happen? If Florida follows the same guidelines as other states, and other states didn’t see their COVID data misreported as Florida did, why did Florida, of all states, get incorrectly reported? I have a theory about it that VIP subscribers can check out.
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