Florida policy makers will no longer know about hospital admissions due to the coronavirus

When the coronavirus was rampant, Governor Ron DeSantis repeatedly said the best way to monitor the pandemic was to keep track of how many people were seeking hospital treatment for COVID-19, but when the state last week stopped issuing daily reports on new cases, deaths and vaccinations, it also stopped reporting. Requiring hospitals to report the number of people they treat per day for illness, meaning that data for emergency room visits and hospital admissions, which have fallen dramatically in recent weeks, is no longer available not only to the public, but to decision makers. What DeSantis once called “leading indicators” of disease prevalence and severity are now unknown. MORE: Florida only state in top 8 to publish COVID numbers only once a weekMore: COVID-19 hits Florida anti-vaccination preacher who said ‘stupid people’ get vaccinated | Frank CerabinoMore: Florida stops issuing daily reports on COVID cases, deaths, vaccinations The disappearance of data is part of the latest disturbing trend, and Jan Malecke, former director of the Palm Beach County Health Department, said she was appalled by Florida’s decision to become the nation’s first state Move to weekly reports. “It is very dangerous and harmful to society and humanity,” she said. With Florida leading the nation in the number of cases of the most contagious and deadly variant strains of the virus, now is not the time to relax in reporting, said Mallicky, who has worked throughout the pandemic as a volunteer counselor for groups in the county from her home in Arizona, said Beth Blower, executive director of the University’s Civic Impact Centers. Johns Hopkins, Hospital admissions are an important way to monitor an epidemic. Blauer, who was part of the team that created the university’s much-loved and respected online coronavirus tracker, citing Michigan as an example, said the disease would have been more severe. When daily hospital admissions in the state swelled from 1,000 per day to 1,500 per day in late March, health and government officials gave early warning that the virus was spreading quickly, restrictions on large gatherings and requirements for masks were extended. Vaccination efforts have been increased with the help of the federal government, and “Without timely data, policy decisions like this can be delayed, leading to more unnecessary deaths from COVID-19,” Dr. Blauer said. Alina Alonso, director of the state-run health department for Palm Beach County, said she is not concerned that hospitals are no longer required to report daily COVID-19 admissions, ICU bed use or emergency room visits. At least on a weekly basis. “We still have access to these people,” she told county commissioners this week. “If there is a problem, they can communicate.” Like Blower, she raised the specter of Michigan. “We don’t want to wake up one morning and be Michigan,” she said. “This is not going to happen in Palm Beach County,” she added. Moreover, although the number of new cases diagnosed each day may not be publicly available, her office will still be reported. So, if cases spike, she said she could set off an alarm, as a new dashboard is being created by state health officials, so information that is now only released on a weekly basis will be available again every day, she said. It said it is in the planning stages and when it will be launched is unknown, however, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health said the dashboard will be for indoor use only and will not be available to the public. Sharing data with the public is critical, the 18-year health director said, “When you don’t report information and you’re not transparent, it creates fear.” “It’s the first thing that causes ill health,” she said. People need to know the risks they face so that they can make rational decisions. “To just say, ‘I’m going to stop reporting and stop giving residents the best information available,’ and that’s where the damage lies,” she said. But state health officials said it was time that, to explain why hospitals are not required to report admissions and other data, they used the same phrase that state health officials used when they announced Friday that daily reports would no longer be released. “Florida is moving into the next phase of its response to COVID-19,” the Health Care Administration Agency said in a statement Wednesday, and said Florida saw a 41% decrease in COVID-19 hospital admissions from May 5 to June 4. On June 3, the agency’s online reporting system, which now no longer exists, showed 1,779 people were hospitalized for treatment for the disease, down from 3,009 on May 5. It was among the county’s 101 patients on 3 and 224 on May 5. In the statement, the AHCA said care facilities are well placed to transition to pre-pandemic activities, noting a significant drop in cases among residents of nearly 4,000 long-term care facilities in the state, and they said nursing homes are not isolated. The ger is being asked to report COVID-19 infections as well. “As of June 4, 0.12% of nursing homes and assisted living residents had COVID,” Maliki said. Maliki said the shift is inexplicable. The state has created an online dashboard to give people the information they need to protect themselves. To dismantle the reporting system when less than 50% of the state’s entire population is vaccinated, and there are questions about whether vaccines will protect people from emerging variants, she said, “As a public health professional with 40 years of experience, I find it very difficult to believe that Anyone with any scientific experience or background in public health would agree to do so.” Today, she said that her response would be swift. “I would be very angry and very frank,” she said. [email protected]