According to an investigation by the Sun Sentinel reported on Tuesday.
The paper found that the number of daily deaths from the coronavirus during the early vote and on election day was lower than around that time.
The change in the death toll came after the state said on Oct. 21 that it would review any alleged COVID-19 deaths before adding it to the census out of concerns about the inflated number, the paper said.
Three days later, the state’s daily count stopped, including deaths that occurred more than a month earlier. The newspaper notes that it could take days and weeks for these deaths to reach the state’s health departments.
The state did not include these deaths in its daily counts on October 24, 10 days before the election, and resumed them two weeks after the election on November 17.
The paper noted that the intent behind manipulating the data is unclear, and a Florida Health Department spokesman declined to answer questions from the Sun Sentinel.
The department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Hill.
The report comes as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Ron DeSantisDaily reported that coronavirus deaths in Florida have fallen before the election: Report Emmy winner Andrew Cuomo asked Florida governor’s not-good, awful, very bad month if he accepts Biden as president-elect: ‘ It’s not for me to do ‘MOREThe (R) approach to the coronavirus pandemic has been scrutinized by the local press.
The Sun Sentinel previously reported that health officials in the state were told not to speak about COVID-19 until after the election.
And a new controversy arose this week after the Florida Police Department invaded the house from Rebekah Jones, who built the state’s coronavirus data dashboard and seized computer equipment. Jones says she was fired in May for refusing to manipulate the state’s coronavirus data.
Jones is accused of hacking into the health department’s messaging system and sending a text message warning employees to “speak up before it’s too late.” She has denied the charge.