The Florida Department of Health undermined the fight against COVID-19 by halting detailed reports on the pandemic last June. That was strike one. Strike two is the department’s effort to scuttle a lawsuit that seeks to hold the state accountable for making that poor decision. It’s another reminder of where Gov. Ron DeSantis stands on open government.
Attorneys for the department filed a petition this month at the 1st District Court of Appeal seeking to shield agency officials from having to explain why the state stopped releasing the reports. The move was in response to a lawsuit filed in August by the Florida Center for Government Accountability and state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, that seeks to obtain the information under Florida’s Public Records Law. (Times Publishing Co. and several other media outlets have intervened in the case in support of the plaintiffs.)
Smith and the nonprofit sued after the department denied requests for detailed, county-level reports, including COVID case counts and other metrics, that up to June 4 were posted daily on a DOH website. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs said the state restricted the release of information as part of its plans to reopen the economy, “painting the illusory picture that the virus had been defeated.”
