It appears Florida’s Republican-dominated state government is engaged in a cover-up in an effort to hide just how many people have died from the coronavirus.
The number of coronavirus deaths are a matter of public record as it helps public officials and the medical community determine what counties need more help and why and how the virus is spreading.
But if you want to hide the number of deaths to make it appear that the pandemic is not as bad as it really is, blocking the release of the coronavirus fatalities list or censoring it is the best way to do it. And that’s apparently what Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration is doing, presumably to make it look like he’s doing a good job and that the state can reopen for business.
Medical examiners across the state turn in a list of overall coronavirus deaths, which the Medical Examiners Commission then releases. However, the Florida Department of Health is releasing figures that are lower than what medical examiners are reporting and the commission has been blocked by the department from releasing the list as officials consider redacting it.
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According to the Tampa Bay Times:
The list had previously been released in real time by the state Medical Examiners Commission. But earlier this month, after the Tampa Bay Times reported that the medical examiners’ death count was 10 percent higher than the figure released by the Florida Department of Health, state officials said the list needed to be reviewed and possibly redacted. They’ve now been withholding it for nine days, without providing any of the information or specifying what they plan to remove.”
It’s not like the list includes names, so privacy really is not an issue here. The list provides a real-time death count, and taxpayers pay for it.
Medical Examiners Commission chairman Dr. Stephen Nelson criticized the move.
“This is no different than any other public record we deal with,” he said. “It’s paid for by taxpayer dollars and the taxpayers have a right to know.”
Indeed, the entire country has the right to know. But DeSantis is so desperate to make everyone believe that Florida is ready to re-open for business and that he has properly handled the crisis that he’s now stooping to hide the real coronavirus death toll in his state. Around 1,088 people have died in Florida thus far, with 83 dying in the single highest daily toll on Tuesday. Are these numbers actually higher? If so, it’s really scary to be living in Florida right now knowing that your government is lying to you abut how dangerous it is to be out and about.
Featured image via screen capture
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