How did CDC botch Florida COVID numbers? State deputy health secretary responds

Florida Deputy Health Secretary Dr. Shamarial Roberson reacted to the CDC's inaccurate numbers regarding recent coronavirus cases rising in the state of Florida Wednesday on "Fox News Primetime." 

On Sunday, Aug. 8, the CDC recorded 28,317 new cases of COVID-19 until Florida Department of Health noticed that was nearly double the actual number in their records, which was close to 15,000. The CDC agreed to meet the department in the middle and revise the number to 19,000, after reportedly rolling several days’ worth of numbers into one. 

Roberson told Fox News that getting the data right is of grave importance. 

CDC ADJUSTS FLORIDA COVID-19 NUMBERS AFTER HEALTH DEPARTMENT CALL-OUT

"It is very important that data is accurate," she said. "The people of Florida – they deserve it. We’ve been putting out accurate data since the beginning of the pandemic."

Roberson explained that the department of health operates out of an integrated public health system where its personnel are responsible for sharing daily case information with the CDC. She said after recognizing Sunday’s information was blatantly incorrect, the department had a conversation with the CDC to roll back their mistake.

"It’s very important to us that people know the numbers so that they can respond and it’s important to us that we have the accurate numbers so that our public health professionals can respond," she said.

The doctor said that she still doesn’t have a "good understanding" of exactly what happened for the CDC to botch the numbers so severely.

As a result, the CDC agreed to include a disclaimer to the official website breaking down the data process, Roberson said, while Florida’s health department implemented an updated data submission process with access to historical backlogging.

Roberson discussed how Florida’s response to the pandemic has been multi-faceted to fit the needs of the state’s many different layers.

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"There is not a one-size-fits-all approach to responding to COVID-19," she said. "So we take a tailored approach in each county… We’ve implemented to make sure vaccines are available, we’ve promoted PSAs to say that they’re safe… People have the choice to make certain decisions in life about mitigations and we have provided that through outreach."