Florida health department says they’re not keeping list of day cares with COVID-19 outbreaks

There have been several outbreaks of COVID-19 at childcare facilities in Central Florida, but the Florida Department of Health said they are not keeping a list of the facilities with outbreaks of the virus.

Since mid-July, 9 Investigates has reported on at least seven day care centers that voluntarily reported positive COVID-19 cases.

The state hasn't been able to tell us how many childcare facilities have had cases, because the Department of Health said it isn't keeping track of positive COVID-19 test results for day cares or childcare facilities.

READ: How Central Florida day cares are being impacted by COVID-19

And since there’s no system in place to monitor cases, Channel 9 questioned how Gov. Ron DeSantis could say this, just five days ago:

“There’s no evidence that having childcare open throughout this entire time has been a driver of community spread. That’s different than saying that there may be an isolated case or something and I would have no way of being able to definitively say that nobody in any childcare setting, a caregiver has ever come down with it,” he said.

READ: 4 teachers test positive at Lake County day care

At the Department of Health’s request, Channel 9 submitted a long list of questions to find out why more isn’t being done to track the cases, and demanded to know why the department isn’t tracking and maintaining a list of cases as it does for state prisons and long-term care facilities.

So far, we have not received a response.

Stay tuned to Channel 9 Eyewitness News for updates. 

Video: Day cares across Central Florida continue to deal with challenge of COVID-19 As school districts hammer out reopening plans, day cares across Central Florida have already been dealing with the challenge of COVID-19 for months.

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