ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — So far in December, 90 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in Orange County alone, but some of those people actually died in August and September.
Local health leaders said deaths actually go through three separate reviews before COVID-19 is officially recorded as the cause of death. Sometimes even after that, changes have to be made based on the person’s address.
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Orange County Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino analyzed about 20 deaths posted in the last few days.
“Three of those deaths were from August and September. Three were from November, and 14 were from December,” Pino said.
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He said the fact that a bulk of the deaths were from this month is a good thing for tracking and controlling the pandemic, but a bad sign about the spread of COVID-19.
“That’s an indication that our rates may be increasing,” Pino said.
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He said the state is being more diligent in confirming that deaths are caused by COVID-19 and not just someone who happens to die while they have COVID-19.
Pino said while it does take extra time, the process is getting faster.
“We hope that there will be a point where we don’t receive any late data,” he said.
