A Florida appeals court is taking up a bid by the state Department of Health to block the release of daily COVID-19 data, including information about county cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths.
The Florida Center for Government Accountability (FCGA) and state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando) filed a public records lawsuit against the department last August, seeking access to pandemic statistics that the state discontinued last June. A Leon County court judge sided with the plaintiffs in an opinion published last month that rejected the defendant’s bid to block questioning of a department official about agency decision-making.
“No public records law exemption applies that would prevent the inspection or copying of the records sought by plaintiffs,” Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper said in his Jan. 3 opinion. “... The department previously released and published on a daily basis the very information sought by plaintiffs. Additionally, the department and the governor have recognized that the need for the public to be informed about the virus’ spread is critical to ensuring public confidence in COVID-19 mitigation strategies.”
A state agency does not have the power to redefine a statutory exemption to the public records law through an administrative rule, Cooper said.
The Department of Health, in turn, filed briefs with the First District Court of Appeal, and the FCGA will provide a response by next month, according to the center’s director of public access, Michael Barfield.
“At the end of the day, we are confident that the center will prevail and that the trial judge’s order will be upheld,” Barfield told the Florida Record.
The plaintiffs dispute whether a former Florida surgeon general, Dr. Scott Rivkees, had discretion to withhold the COVID-19 data. They are trying to find out what criteria guided the former surgeon general’s actions – especially as the Delta variant was spreading around Florida.
The outcome of the case likely won’t set a precedent for public agencies outside the context of reportable disease in formation, according to Barfield. But he said the issue remains an important one for the state’s residents.
“Floridians are best served by more information, not less, about the dangers of a reportable disease, such as covid,” he said.
Several media companies, including The Associated Press, the First Amendment Foundation and the Miami Herald, are intervenors in the litigation.