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Democrats say daily COVID-19 reports needed in Florida

A worker prepares a collection tube during COVID-19 tests for first responders, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020, at Hialeah Fire Station #1, in Hialeah, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee, Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Two Democratic state senators Friday called on Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration to continue reporting the numbers of COVID-19 cases on a daily basis.

DeSantis spokesman Fred Piccolo told Spectrum News that the governor’s office was mulling whether to keep publishing COVID-19 infection reports daily or move to “a modified schedule like all the other reports of infectious diseases.”

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Piccolo made the remarks after the state did not post daily information last Saturday because of what the Florida Department of Health said was a technical problem.

But Friday, Sen. Lori Berman, D-Delray Beach, and Sen. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, criticized the possibility of moving away from daily reports as they said the numbers of COVID-19 cases are “creeping up again.”

A Department of Health report Friday showed that the state has had 748,437 cases, with an increase of 3,449 cases from Thursday.

Also as of Friday, 15,830 Florida residents had died from the virus, an increase of 94 deaths from Thursday.

“Make no mistake, this political stunt would be an affront to the public’s health and right to understand case trends,” the Democratic senators said in a joint press statement.


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