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A legal battle over how Florida handled COVID data is over.
The Florida Center for Government Accountability announced yesterday it settled its lawsuit against the Florida Department of Health.
The nonprofit sued the state on behalf of former Orlando State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith.
He claimed in a 2021 lawsuit that the state was withholding COVID case data even though it was be reported to the CDC.
State health officials claimed the COVID data was confidential.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Florida Department of Health will post the retroactive and prospective data on its website starting October 28th.
Smith says the department's decision to restrict information and downplay the threat of COVID cost many lives.
An FDH spokesman says it has always reported data to the CDC, and "it's unfortunate it has to waste government resources arguing with armchair epidemiologists who have zero training or expertise," according to the Times/Herald."