Florida curtails reporting of coronavirus death numbers by county medical examiners

[marble falls]

Florida curtails reporting of coronavirus death numbers by county medical examiners
David Knowles

https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-curtails-reporting-of-coronavirus-death-numbers-by-county-medical-examiners-173503327.html

Yahoo NewsMay 1, 2020, 12:35 PM CDT


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The death count compiled by the Medical Examiners Commission was often found to be higher than the figures provided by Florida’s Department of Health, the Tampa Bay Times reported, prompting a review of the data and a suspension of its publication.

State officials have not specified what they find objectionable about the medical examiners’ count, nor when they might allow it to be made public again, the Times said.

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Dr. Stephen Nelson, chairman of the state Medical Examiners Commission, told the Tampa Bay Times that state officials informed him that they would remove the cause of death and a description of each case from statistics published by the examiners.

“This is no different than any other public record we deal with,” Nelson said. “It’s paid for by taxpayer dollars and the taxpayers have a right to know.”

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