The Florida Department of Health changed the way COVID-19 deaths are accounted for in the state as the delta variant spread, leading to an “artificial decline” in deaths.
The Miami Herald reported Monday that the change in state in the way it reported deaths gave the appearance that the pandemic was waning, according to the analysis of Florida data conducted by the newspaper along with the New Herald .
Until three weeks ago, according to the Herald, data collected by Florida and later published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) counted deaths by the date they were recorded, which is a common practice for show daily statistics in many states.
On August 10, however, the state changed its methodology and began counting new deaths daily by the date the person died instead of the day the death was recorded. A handful of other states would also have switched to this process.
When deaths from COVID-19 are recorded with the new method, which focuses on the date of death, the figures generally appear to be on a recent downward slope, even during the current rise, the Herald reported, because it takes some time to assess deaths and process death certificates.
The Herald presented an example of the discrepancy between the two methods: State death data would have shown an average of 262 deaths reported to CDC the previous week if the health department used the original information system, according to the newspaper analysis.
In contrast, the new reporting system only tracked 46 new daily deaths over the past seven days.
Shivani Patel, a social epidemiologist and assistant professor at Emory University, told the Herald that the change was “extremely problematic” and created an “artificial decline” in recent deaths out of context.
He said it was especially problematic because the change came amid an increase in COVID-19 cases, which gave the appearance that “we are doing better than we are.”
The change in methodology, according to the Herald, came a day after the Florida Department of Health’s Twitter account criticized CDC’s COVID-19 tracker, claiming its numbers were “incorrect.”
Weesam Khoury, a spokesman for the state Department of Health, told the Herald that this week he worked with CDC to resolve “data discrepancies that have occurred.”
“As a result of the data discrepancies that have occurred this week, [Florida Department of Health] worked quickly and efficiently with CDC to ensure accurate display of data on its website on the same day, ”Khoury said.
“To proactively ensure that accurate data is displayed consistently, the Department will begin submitting a complete set of case data to the CDC on a daily basis, including retroactive COVID-19 cases,” he added.
The news comes amid greater control over Florida and its governor, Ron DeSantis
Ron DeSantisTrump to hold rallies in Iowa, Georgia The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by AT&T – Biden tried to get out of Afghanistan, Ida’s anger Anxiety grows COVID-19 threatens to disrupt schools – again MONTH (R), for its treatment of the pandemic.
Florida became the epicenter of the virus earlier this month, and hospitalizations soared to levels not seen in previous points in the pandemic.
The Hill contacted the Florida Department of Health to comment.