Okay, so Florida is seeing a surge in new cases. Despite New York having more cases and deaths than any other area and that remains the case, Florida is being pummeled by the liberal media. In the eyes of the liberal press, they deserve it; not enough Floridians died. The Acela Corridor bias is overt and downright absurd. There is no way Texas or Florida’s COVID deaths or cases are ever going to catch up or surpass that of New York, the mecca of the US-based coronavirus outbreak. Yet, there’s an issue with the testing—a big issue. And no doubt it’s screwed with reporting of the new cases. Some of these labs in the Sunshine State were reporting a 100 percent positivity rate. Well, Fox 35 Orlando investigated and found that one location’s actual positivity rate, originally reported to be 98 percent, was really 9.4 percent (via Fox 35 News)[emphasis mine]:
ERRORS FOUND: Florida's positivity rate is skewed. #FOX35 went through #COVID19 test reports & found many clinics reporting 100% positivity. @orlandohealth admits their number is wrong, saying it shows 98% positive, but it's actually 9.4%. @fox35orlando https://t.co/NgFuXjw5OS
— Amy Kaufeldt (@Fox35Amy) July 14, 2020
After FOX 35 News noticed errors in the state's report on positivity rates, the Florida Department of Health said that some laboratories have not been reporting negative test result data to the state.
Countless labs have reported a 100 percent positivity rate, which means every single person tested was positive. Other labs had very high positivity rates. FOX 35 News found that testing sites like one local Centra Care reported that 83 people were tested and all tested positive. Then, NCF Diagnostics in Alachua reported 88 percent of tests were positive.
[…]
The report showed that Orlando Health had a 98 percent positivity rate. However, when FOX 35 News contacted the hospital, they confirmed errors in the report. Orlando Health's positivity rate is only 9.4 percent, not 98 percent as in the report.
The report also showed that the Orlando Veteran’s Medical Center had a positivity rate of 76 percent. A spokesperson for the VA told FOX 35 News on Tuesday that this does not reflect their numbers and that the positivity rate for the center is actually 6 percent.
FOX 35 News went on to speak with the Florida Department of Health on Tuesday. They confirmed that although private and public laboratories are required to report positive and negative results to the state immediately, some have not. Specifically, they said that some smaller, private labs were not reporting negative test result data to the state.
[…]
While Florida has broken national records for jumps in cases, the state's death toll is nowhere near the national record. When COVID-19 was ravaging New York three months ago, it recorded 799 deaths on April 9 and had a top seven-day average of 763 deaths on April 14. New York now has one of the nation’s lowest death rates per capita, recording 10 per day over the last week.
Yeah, labs only reporting positive case results—all of which are eons below what they actually are might screw with the data. That is quite the gap right there regarding a 98 percent positivity rate and…9.4 percent. A lot of those who’ve been crunching the numbers probably already know this, but when it comes to new cases—maybe take a few days and circle back.