Data from case studies that were not complete or accurate. COVIDContact tracing was not possible due to deaths that were not reported on time, or even at all. These are among some of the findings documented by Florida’s Auditor General in a new report critical of how the stateTracked and reported COVID-19 and its failures. state’s ability to control the virus’ spread.
The most recent publication watchdog report is the result of the office’s review of COVIDInformation about cases collected between March 2020 and October 2020. The report highlights mistakes and inaccuracies in the reporting. state’s top health and emergency management departments tracked COVIDThe cases are spread throughout the state.
The report’s highlights include:
- The stateWe did not include more than 3000 COVIDIts -related deaths death count list
- You will find thousands of results COVIDThe tests were never returned by state-run testing sites
- Many of those tested results were lacking critical information such as race, gender, and age.
- Contact tracing efforts for more than 20% of positive test subjects were never made or attempted. COVID-19, according to the Auditory General’s findings.
While the specific failures highlighted in the report aren’t new, it is the first time the state’s watchdogIs weighing in on state’s tracking of the virus. The state’s handling of the pandemic and its lack of transparency with the public about case and death countsIt has been frequently questioned and scrutinized by the media and Democratic legislators.
But University of South Florida Epidemiologist Jason Salemi adds context to the findings, explaining how inaccuracies and undercounting of cases in Florida aren’t unique to the Sunshine State.
“This is not just a Florida problem,”He said. Salemi spent more than two decades analysing the state’s COVID data. Twitter is a frequent place where he posts his findings, providing context and understanding to the numbers.
“Other states in the United States and other countries around the world, they’ve all struggled with this,”Salemi claimed. “They were all trying to respond to a growing pandemic and they were trying to do so with data systems that were not primed to be able to respond in an adequate way. I think everybody has had failures, and everybody has had successes,”He said.
In its response to the Auditor General’s findings, leaders at Florida’s Department of Health (FDOH) disputed some of its conclusions. Responding to the undercounting COVID-19 deaths, FDOH leaders explained how the Auditor’s conclusions were based on a flawed system and misunderstanding of how death countsThese are classified by state’s COVID-10 surveillance systems versus vital statistics. FDOH also blamed laboratories for inaccuracies in testing, delays in results and missing or erroneous information about patients.
FDOH has made a few changes to its data tracking methods, and is still making adjustments in order to improve the way it tracks diseases across the country. state. Many of these changes were made and then implemented by the statefought to regain control COVID-19.
“A lot of things we could have done better, but we need to give credit where credit is due,”He said. “I’m hoping that we’re now implementing policies in place where we just do everything that much better in the future. We owe it to people because we should have learned a lot from our mistakes during this pandemic,”He said.