At a time of raised tensions between President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over school mask mandates, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adjusted its coronavirus count tracking for the state after Tallahassee said the original figures were inaccuraely inflated, the New York Post reported on Wednesday, as confusion over reporting practices sparked a feud between federal and state authorities.
When the CDC website posted record high coronavirus numbers once again for Florida this past Sunday, the state’s Department of Health accused the agency of putting several days of new cases together incorrectly, saying the real number should have been 15,319 instead of the 28,317 that the CDC stated.
On Tuesday, the CDC adjusted its number down to 19,584 and said that it was in discussions with Florida officials to make sure any inaccuracies are corrected.
But despite the corrected lower figure, the coronavirus situation has still shown serious deterioration over the past three weeks in Florida, according to the CDC numbers, Fox News reported.
The CDC reported that Florida had more than 20,000 cases for its 7-day average of new cases and that hospitalizations went up by more than 1,100 on Tuesday to 14,787 patients with coronavirus, the highest in the country.
In addition, more than 47% of ICU beds were taken by approximately 3,000 coronavirus patients, a figure which has almost tripled in the last three weeks.
The dispute comes amid arguments between Biden and DeSantis over school mask mandates, according to the New York Post.
The president backs the mandates and said that the White House is checking if they can be federally enforced, while the governor has vowed to ban the mandatory wearing of masks in Florida’s schools.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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