Commissioner Nikki Fried Releases Additional COVID-19 School Data Blocked by DeSantis Administration

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, an independently-elected member of the Florida Cabinet, released updated COVID-19 data from Florida’s school districts, reflecting additional data from the weeks of September 27, October 4, and October 11, 2021. Fried previously released on October 7 a compilation of all publicly available school district COVID-19 data, which Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration continues refusing to provide.

The data shows a continued trend in which school districts that have required masks have had fewer COVID-19 cases on average than school districts that did not. Through October 17, school districts that required masks with only a medical opt-out have seen 3.13 cases per capita; school districts that required masks with parental opt-out have seen 4.23 cases per capita; and school districts that did not require masks have seen 5.51 cases per capita.

On October 21, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) filed a new public records request with the Florida Department of Education for COVID-19 data, including all COVID-19 data related to K-12 student cases provided by school districts or other state agencies. This follows the department’s August 12 public records request for COVID-19 data from the Florida Department of Health, including daily cases, deaths, and hospitalizations for every Florida county and every age, as well as ICU capacity. More than two months later, these public records have not been provided; Commissioner Fried therefore directed her department to compile and analyze all publicly available COVID-19 data from school districts, so that the public may know how COVID-19 has impacted Florida schools and the effects of mask-wearing policies.

The updated data and sources may be viewed here.

“When fighting an unprecedented pandemic like COVID-19, transparency is absolutely critical – yet even today, Governor DeSantis continues trying to hide data from Floridians and promote anti-children policies. He may be furious that we released the data his administration won’t provide, but families, educators, and communities deserve to know the truth,” said Commissioner Nikki Fried. “Today’s updated data validates the data before: kids have been better off in schools requiring masks than in schools that did not. The math is clear that masks work in schools and help reduce the spread of COVID-19, just as nearly all medical and scientific experts have agreed. Despite these facts, the Governor and his Education Commissioner have continued bullying local elected school leaders already facing personal threats, defunding multiple school districts that dared to follow the science and require masks. It is cruel partisan gamesmanship to take money from already-underfunded schools that are trying to protect children. I continue to stand with students, parents, teachers, and the President in support of our school districts working hard to keep kids healthy, keep parents working, and keep communities safe.”

Background: Despite intense criticism from parents, teachers, and public health experts, Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order banning local school districts from implementing temporary mask requirements in schools as Florida again became the nation’s COVID-19 epicenter. While state and federal lawsuits continue at taxpayer expense over DeSantis’s misleading executive order, including allegations of violating federal disabilities laws, his Department of Education took the unprecedented step of defunding eight school districts that passed a mask requirement. After President Biden intervened on behalf of teachers and school districts, DeSantis doubled down by threatening to further defund school districts that accept federal assistance, which Commissioner Fried has asked the federal government to block the Governor from doing. The White House and federal officials have been critical of DeSantis’s defunding of schools, calling his actions “an abdication of state leaders’ duty to keep our children safe.” This month, the DeSantis Administration faced further criticism for Florida having been the only state having failing to submit plans for more than $2 billion in American Rescue Plan federal school funding.

Methodology: School districts in all 67 Florida counties were queried for publicly accessible COVID-19 data dashboards. 33 school districts possess publicly accessible COVID-19 data dashboards that publish aggregated case data, on a weekly basis, not only single day/week data, for all active weeks of the 2021-22 school year. Cases per capita is calculated as total cases through the week of October 11 divided by total school district enrollment. Peak cases per capita is calculated as peak week cases divided by total school district enrollment. All data is generally week-over-week dependent on school district data publication schedule. School district enrollment data is via the Florida Department of Education. County population data is via the Florida Association of Counties.

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