# Florida numbers don't make sense **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [August 16, 2021, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760 "2021-08-16T02:05:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/1 "2021-08-16T02:05:35Z")
I look at the worldometer web site pretty frequently to see what’s going on with the pandemic. I’ve noticed something odd with the numbers being reported for Florida, which you can see here: > **[Florida COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/florida/)** > > Florida COVID-19 Coronavirus update by county with statistics and graphs: total and new cases, deaths per day, current active cases, recoveries, historical data, trends, projections, and timeline. The number of daily new cases started going up at the end of June, and now they’re at their highest point ever for the state. The number of daily deaths started to go up in early July, which is what you’d expect. But the reported death rate decreased sharply starting around August 5th, and is now about the same as it was before the latest spike. This makes no sense to me. Why would the number of deaths plummet when the case rate is high and increasing? Other states with high case rates, like Louisiana, show no such pattern. It’s almost enough to make me suspect deliberate data suppression, although in general I don’t believe in conspiracy theories (it’s too hard to keep a secret when so many people would have to be involved). Someone please explain. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/2 "2021-08-16T02:11:26Z")
Guess: Vaccinated people are getting infected but they are not being hospitalised or killed by the virus due to the vaccine. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/3 "2021-08-16T02:13:51Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Someone please explain. Pretty sure it’s just reporting lag. ---
**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/4 "2021-08-16T02:26:39Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > The number of daily new cases started going up at the end of June, and now they’re at their highest point ever for the state. The number of daily deaths started to go up in early July, which is what you’d expect. But the reported death rate decreased sharply starting around August 5th, and is now about the same as it was before the latest spike. That’s weird because NYT and Johns Hopkins show deaths shooting up. CDC shows the same downward trend on worldometers. > **[Home - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center](https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/florida)** > > Johns Hopkins experts in global public health, infectious disease, and emergency preparedness have been at the forefront of the international response to COVID-19. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/5 "2021-08-16T02:39:57Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > Pretty sure it’s just reporting lag. If it’s just reporting lag, why didn’t that lag exist until August 5th, and why doesn’t it exist for other states? ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/6 "2021-08-16T03:04:13Z")
Because Florida. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/7 "2021-08-16T11:44:33Z")
My wag would be: - Political, intentionally underreporting COVID deaths and attributing them to other causes. - Vaccinated have less chance of death from COVID. - Delta Variant may have less fatalities then the original. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/8 "2021-08-16T20:44:59Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > If it’s just reporting lag, why didn’t that lag exist until August 5th, and why doesn’t it exist for other states? One possibility is that the various health officials tasked with handling the data are more overwhelmed now than before. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/9 "2021-08-16T22:46:39Z")
Worldometers appears to be backfilling older dates so that, for example, if someone died on August 1 but it was reported by the state on August 10, it gets added to the total for August 1. Other data trackers that don’t do this, like [this one](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/florida-covid-cases.html) from the New York Times, show no such dropoff. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/10 "2021-08-17T02:53:30Z")
Florida changes their reporting methodology recently. Deaths used to show up when they were reported - now they are added to the day of the actual death, regardless of when it is reported. This may result in them not being noticed as much. [https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/florida-changed-how-it-reports-covid-19-statistics-the-result-the-pandemic-appears-to-look-less-severe-with-fewer-recent-deaths/ar-AANis1X](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/florida-changed-how-it-reports-covid-19-statistics-the-result-the-pandemic-appears-to-look-less-severe-with-fewer-recent-deaths/ar-AANis1X) > Florida changed its COVID reporting method Tuesday and now reports when cases or deaths actually occurred rather than when they were communicated to the state — allowing health officials to assign cases or deaths to days in the past rather than the present. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/11 "2021-08-17T17:29:58Z")
Almost six thousand students and staffers in one Florida county are under quarantine. > **[Over 5,000 students quarantine or isolate because of Covid in Florida school...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/over-5-000-students-quarantine-001800007.html)** > > Hillsborough County Public Schools administrators called an emergency meeting to consider a potential mask mandate "for all students and staff." ---
**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-numbers-dont-make-sense/948760/12 "2021-08-17T17:33:51Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > Florida changes their reporting methodology recently. Deaths used to show up when they were reported - now they are added to the day of the actual death, regardless of when it is reported. This may result in them not being noticed as much. Still seems sketchy since deaths look like they’re decreasing while cases and hospitalizations are still increasing. Sketchy, sketchy, sketchy.