VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Just days after posting his frustration with the Florida Department of Health, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told News 6 his department will resume receiving detailed COVID-19 data, including addresses of those who have tested positive.
“I’m glad to see they admitted they made a mistake,” he said. “[We] got an email that said DOH had reevaluated their position and starting this afternoon they were going to provide information seven days a week.”
“Once the Dept. of Health became aware of the Sheriff’s concerns through news media reports, we resumed providing information locally,” a spokesperson with the Volusia County Department of Health said in an email to News 6.
Earlier this week, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood shared in a social media post that he was not happy with how the FDOH reports cases of COVID-19.
The sheriff had been posting updates on social media that included cities and areas that had been flagged as locations of possible cases of the coronavirus. Chitwood said that information was no longer being provided by the FDOH because it is time-consuming due to the community spread of the disease.
“The Department of Health just told us that effective immediately, they’re no longer providing us the addresses that are being monitored for COVID-19,” Chitwood said in a post. “Their reasoning is that with so much community spread, the effort is too time-consuming, and all first responders should be wearing personal protective equipment in all close contacts with the public, anyway.
Chitwood defended his use of the information.
“It’s not identifying any individual, but it’s showing our cases are ebbing and flowing and you need to understand what we’re up against,” he said. “The more information we put out there, the better educated our residents are to make informed decisions. We’re getting ready to send out kids back to school and they are our most precious resource. We got to make an informed decision as we move forward here.”
While Chitwood has said in the past that he is not in favor of a government-enforced face mask mandate, he called on individuals and the private sector to do their part to curb the spread of COVID-19, and for businesses to require face masks when it makes sense.
“I have said that I’m not in favor of a government-enforced mask mandate. I don’t believe it’s the role of my deputies to go out and enforce mask-wearing on people. But I believe the private sector - our grocery stores, restaurants, retailers of all kinds - are in a unique position to create a mask mandate that makes sense,” Chitwood said. “If the store tells me I need to wear a mask to come in and shop for what I need, then I’m wearing a mask. Most of us should be able to agree to that.”
Chitwood said first responders use that data to help better prepare themselves when responding to calls at a certain address, such as if they were going to interact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
“We don’t have an unlimited amount of PPE gear,” he said. “We’re in decent shape but this doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. So we have to be judicious in our use of that.”
Back in April, Sheriff Chitwood accused the FDOH of no longer providing specific addresses for nursing homes or assisted living facilities with COVID-19 cases.
The Florida Department of Health ultimately released that data less than a week later.
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