ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — In the last week, the department of health recorded 34 deaths from COVID-19 in Orange County, however, Channel 9 has determined that, in some cases, reports came several days or weeks following a person’s death.
Officials said that means the number of deaths could grow in larger increments going forward if the trend continues. As of Friday, the county has reported 103 total coronavirus-virus related deaths.
Orange County Health Officer Raul Pino said sometimes there are delays in a medical examiner certifying a death and then for the state to report it.
Correcting a record is cumbersome, he added. He’s been fighting to get one of the county’s COVID-19 deaths removed after a man who was killed in a motorcycle crash, who happened to have COVID-19, was included in the count.
The Department of Health confirmed Saturday that the man’s death was removed fromt he state’s COVID-19 death count.
Pino said the public should understand that with such a high volume of data, there will always been some variation in the analysis.
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“I know there are several conspiracies out there. Listen, you can lie with data but data doesn’t lie,” he said.
Hospital officials estimate it could be week or two before the virus peaks in Orange County.
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