Florida sees rise in COVID-19 cases a day after data delay

MIAMI (AP) — The Florida government reported an increase in confirmed cases of COVID-19 a day after not releasing virus data citing a problem with a private laboratory.

The Florida Department of Health tallied Sunday 3,700 new known cases, the highest daily caseload since late August. On Saturday, there were 1,790 new confirmed cases.

The state also reported 180 new COVID-19 deaths but that number reflects two days of data reporting.

Health officials said they received 400,000 previously reported test results late Friday from Helix Laboratory, which prevented them from processing and releasing data on Saturday as they usually do. Epidemiologists needed to verify results to make sure it didn’t duplicate cases, the department said.

It’s not the first time the state cites problems with private laboratories. In early September, the government severed ties with Quest Diagnostics after the company failed to submit timely results of tens of thousands of COVID-19 test results, some dating as far back as April.

Gov. Ron DeSantis then questioned the reliability of testing data for making policy decisions.

Florida has reported 734,491 known cases of coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic and 15,552 deaths.