A Leon County circuit judge has scheduled a two-day hearing next month in a lawsuit alleging the Florida Department of Health has violated public-records laws by refusing to provide detailed data about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Judge John Cooper issued an order this week scheduling the hearing on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10. State Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, and the Florida Center for Government Accountability filed the lawsuit in August after the Department of Health rebuffed requests for daily information about COVID-19 cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations.
Several major news organizations joined the lawsuit to back Smith and the non-profit Florida Center for Government Accountability.
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The Department of Health has argued that Cooper should reject the lawsuit, contending that requested reports don’t exist and that underlying data is confidential. Cooper had scheduled a hearing in late September, but it was postponed because a lead attorney for the plaintiffs had a death in her family.
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This article appears in Oct 20-26, 2021.