CDC, Florida at odds over COVID-19 numbers

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that Florida had an unprecedented 28,317 new coronavirus cases on Sunday. Several media outlets picked up the story and reported the data, which was incorrect. The state health department in a tweet asked the CDC to correct a counting error that compiled a weekend’s worth of data into one day. Since then, the CDC website lowered Sunday’s cases to 19,584, but that number is still at least 4,000 more than what the state reported for that day. The CDC has not indicated why the discrepancy exists or whether it plans to correct the numbers again.

How is Florida handling COVID-19? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that 47 percent of the state’s ICU beds are filled with coronavirus patients. The national government is sending 200 ventilators to Florida hospitals struggling with the surge in cases. The CDC lists every county as “high transmission” for community spread. Nearly 50 percent of eligible Floridians are fully vaccinated, according to state data.

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Dunn and Esther Eaton’s report in Schooled about how Florida and other states are responding to school mask mandates.