The death toll from Miami-Dade County’s summer COVID-19 resurgence is still being counted, even though the disease peaked about two months ago. Public health experts attribute the backlog to a lengthy reporting process and the sheer number of people who passed away in Florida’s virus hotspot.
The Florida Department of Health, which continues to register COVID-19 deaths from July, told the Miami Herald on Thursday that it announces deaths as they are reported to the agency, but did not elaborate on why deaths were taking so long to be reported. The death toll for Miami-Dade hit 3,027 on Friday, accounting for about 23% of Florida’s 13,225 COVID-19 deaths.
About a month ago, medical examiners warned of a backlog of more than 650 deaths in Miami-Dade County and more than 1,200 across the state. As a result, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission voted to streamline the process by allowing physicians to certify COVID-19 death without medical examiners signing off.
Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.
