Florida's health department reportedly told medical examiners to remove causes of death from mortality data

Florida.
(Image credit: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Image)

Florida's health department is reportedly withholding the list of coronavirus deaths compiled by the state's medical examiners, which at times has shown a higher death toll than the official record, The Tampa Bay Times reports.

The state Medical Examiners Commission had been releasing the data in real time, including demographic information, probable cause of death, case summaries, and medical and travel history (names are not included), but the commission's chair, Dr. Stephen Nelson, said the health department stepped in and told him it planned to remove causes of death and case descriptions. The policy change reportedly occurred after the Times reported the commission's count was 10 percent higher than the state's.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.