FOX 35 INVESTIGATES: State looks to improve COVID-19 report

ORLANDO, Fla. - After more than a week, FOX 35 News got an update on the work being done to fix the state’s COVID-19 numbers.

A FOX 35 investigation revealed inaccuracies in the Florida Department of Health’s COVID-19 report.

Some labs were only reporting positive results, giving them a 100 percent positivity rate.

The state told FOX 35 it would be working with the labs to include the negative results, but more than a week later, not much progress has been made.

For instance, the line for Orlando Health still showed a 98 percent positivity rate, but the hospital told FOX 35:

“As of Thursday, July 23, Orlando Health had conducted 61,396 COVID-19 tests. Of those, 6,490 were positive, which puts our positivity rate at approximately 10.5 percent. We continue to work with the Florida Department of Health to ensure that our numbers are being correctly presented to the public."

Pancare of Florida in the Florida panhandle also said its numbers still aren’t being reflected accurately on the report.

Lee Health in Fort Meyers told FOX 35, "..that a hospital can have more than one entry in the database and if you combine them, you can get an accurate picture of the positivity rate at that hospital."

That could explain why there are several lines for Orlando Health with slightly different names.

But why present the numbers in a way that may be confusing and misleading?

The Florida Department of Health said:

“We have had conversations with several hospitals and laboratories to identify the different ways they send data to us and work with them to determine how they want data presented in the table. We continue to reach out to laboratory partners to discuss ways we can improve the way data are displayed in the table."

The state has not provided FOX 35 with a timeline on improving the report, nor a timeline on when the report will be updated to include all negative test results.

FOX 35 will continue to follow this story. Stay tuned to Fox35Orlando.com and our FOX 35 News app to stay up-to-date on this story.