Fried: Agriculture Department Will Release Daily COVID Numbers

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried plans to have her division launch Daily reviews on COVID-19 circumstances, deaths and hospitalizations as a Outcome of the Florida Department of Well being – beneath her political foe, Gov. Ron DeSantis – has switched to offering such information as quickly as Every week.

Fried, The one Democrat holding a statewide office and a 2022 candidate for governor, said she Continues to be Engaged on how The information Shall be currentd, by way of press conferences, information launchs or on-line posts.

However with the delta variant of the coronavirus driving up case numbers in Florida, she informed reporters Wednesday that the “people of Florida want and deserve entry to common well timed updates Because it Pertains to The continued pandemic, not secret conferences, or sporadic information sharing.”

Because our governor Will not, right now I held The primary Of regular COVID updates To current Floridians The information and transparency we deserve.

This Delta wave is a menace to our health and financial restoration. pic.twitter.com/IyzuFbTWj2

— Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) July 28, 2021

“We stay Inside the state of Florida,” Fried said. “Everyone is Aware of that We’re weak to hurricanes. Everyone is Aware of The biggest Method To rearrange for hurricanes. All of us know that we’ve acquired to Refill on medicine and water and meals. And if We now have a menace of a hurricane, we anticipate Daily briefings.”

Aside from by way of her megaphone as a statewide elected official and as head of the Department of Agriculture and Shopper Providers, Fried has little direct administration over the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fried said she isn’t calling for lockdowns or obligatory masks mandates, which she did a yr in the past. However she said she intends To current knowledge submitted by county health divisions to the federal Facilities for Illness Control and Prevention and the White House Well being Equity COVID-19 Process Strain.

The Florida Department of Well being in early June scaled again from releasing Daily reviews to weekly reviews, as new circumstances and hospitalizations dropped. Additionally, the weekly reviews current much less detailed information than the Daily reviews, which have been posted for a lot of 2020 and The primary half of 2021.

DeSantis’ office has said the administration Does not plan to return to Daily reviews.