After a two-year fight, the Florida Department of Health will release more data about COVID-19 and pay $152,500 in legal fees and costs, according to a settlement released Monday by plaintiffs in the case. The settlement will require the department to post weekly data about vaccination counts, case counts and deaths by county, age group, gender, and race. The Florida Center for Government Accountability and state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, filed a lawsuit Aug. 30, 2021, and alleged that the department violated the state’s public-records law by turning down requests for daily COVID-19 data.
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Health authorities have emphasized the urgency of vaccination once the shots become available. The new release coincides with a late summer surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations and growing concerns over the potential impact of respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, in the upcoming fall and winter seasons.
As of Thursday, August 19, approximately 51 percent of the American population is vaccinated. The authors spell out that some states are safer than others. The District of Columbia enjoyed the least overall deaths from Covid, followed by Vermont, California, Connecticut, and Wisconsin. Vermont, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey had the highest vaccine rate.