Orlando TV station reports ‘shocking’ errors in FL state COVID testing reports
An investigative report from a local Fox affiliate in Orlando is saying that the state of Florida perhaps has artificially inflated COVID-positive tests because their data shows some unbelievable and “shocking positivity rates.”
“Countless labs have reported a 100 percent positivity rate,” says Fox 35, “which means every single person tested was positive. Other labs had very high positivity rates. FOX 35 found that testing sites like Centra Care reported that 83 people were tested and all tested positive. Then, NCF Diagnostics in Alachua reported 88 percent of tests were positive.”
The station called one tester, Orlando Health, which showed subjects were 98 percent positive for COVID-19, but that the company confirmed that there must be an error.
“Orlando Health’s positivity rate is only 9.4 percent, not 98 percent as in the report,” says Fox 35.
“The report also showed that the Orlando Veteran’s Medical Center had a positivity rate of 76 percent. A spokesperson for the VA told FOX 35 News on Tuesday that this does not reflect their numbers and that the positivity rate for the center is actually 6 percent,” says the Orlando TV news station.
The investigation is ongoing and the affiliate has yet to hear from the Florida Department of Health regarding an official explanation of the errors.
As of Monday, official stats say that Florida was showing almost a 20 percent positivity rate statewide. That rate has skyrocketed in recent weeks, after being under 10 percent during the month of May.
Florida is among states where COVID infections have exploded in the last month. The Sunshine State is especially problematic because the state has been less than transparent about sharing COVID data with the public.
It wasn’t until this last Sunday that Florida began sharing comprehensive data on hospitals in the state.
The latest snafu is likely to cause the public to continue to lose faith in the ability of state health officials to tell a consistent story about the coronavirus.
Previously, public health officials around the country have been charged with manipulating the numbers of deaths, changing death certificates and overriding attending physicians’ determination of causes of death.
The data may also explain another phenomenon that is puzzling experts.
“Despite the rising number of infections, the average daily U.S. death toll has gradually declined in recent weeks, reflecting the growing proportion of positive tests among younger, healthier people less prone to severe illness when infected,” reported Reuters.
It also may be explained by artificially high COVID-positive numbers that are a result of errors in properly reporting the test results.
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