By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

The Florida Department of Health reported an additional 7,569 new positive COVID-19 cases Aug 31, bringing the state total to 631,040.

Image/Clker-Free-Vector-Images

Since August 31, the death of one hundred eighty-seven Florida residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have been reported. The death total in the state now stands at 11,374.

With a positivity rate of approximately 6.8 percent, this makes it 20 consecutive days with rate of less than 10 percent.

Today, at the direction of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) and the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) will be severing all ties with Quest Diagnostics after Quest’s failure to follow Florida law and report all COVID-19 results in a timely manner. Quest’s failure to report nearly 75,000 results dating back to April means most of the data in today’s upload – while it will have historical significance – will have little impact on the status of the pandemic today.

Governor DeSantis said,“The law requires all COVID-19 results to be reported to DOH in a timely manner.  To drop this much unusable and stale data is irresponsible. I believe that Quest has abdicated their ability to perform a testing function in Florida that the people can be confident in. As such I am directing all executive agencies to sever their COVID-19 testing relationships with Quest effective immediately.”

Of the 7,569 new positive COVID-19 cases reported by the state today, 3,870 were results older than two weeks, some dating back to April, per a delay in reporting from Quest Diagnostic Labs.

Without the backlog of Quest results, the positivity rate for new cases on August 31, 2020 is 5.9%.