re: #251 Backwoods_Sleuth

Who in Florida’s state health department ordered this? It looks like the Tampa Bay Times is digging to find out.

Stephen Nelson, the chairman of the state Medical Examiners Commission, told the Tampa Bay Times that the state health department intervened and told him it planned to remove causes of death and case descriptions from mortality data.

Nelson told the newspaper the data is meaningless without that information, and the entirety of the list should be considered public information.
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“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.”

Alberto Moscoso, a spokesman for the state health department, told the Times that the department “participated in conference calls” with the state Department of Law Enforcement, which provides administrative support to the Medical Examiners Commission, saying the discussions pertained to “privacy concerns for the individuals that passed away related to COVID-19.”

“Privacy” (bullshyte)

thehill.com