Volusia County sheriff calls the way Florida reports coronavirus cases 'just another failure'

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VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - Updates from Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood will continue as the Florida Department of Health has agreed to continue sending addresses to the Sheriff's Office of those who have had possible COVID-19 exposure.

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Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood says that COVID-19 updates for the county are over after the Department of Health said it would no longer provide them with the addresses that are being monitored for the virus.

The decision, he says, is effective immediately -- and he's not happy about it.

"With so much community spread, they say the effort is too time-consuming and all 1st responders should be wearing PPE in close contacts anyway," Sheriff Chitwood tweeted on Tuesday. "From my perspective, this is just another failure in a long line of govt failures to confront this crisis in an effective way."

Sheriff Chitwood went on to say that from the beginning of the pandemic, there has been limited or conflicting information coming from local, state, and federal governments.

"Too many failures to list here, but the constant theme throughout all of them has been a void of steady leadership and a lack of accurate and honest information provided to the American people."

He went to to say, "In my opinion, it's up to individual Americans and the private sector to step up and take control of this crisis. While the government is groping around in the dark like the 3 blind mice, we are going to have to fight our way through this."

While he says he is not in favor of a government-enforced face mask order, he does think businesses can create them for themselves and they should be abided by.

"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."

On Wednesday, coronavirus cases in the state rose by nearly 10,000 within 24 hours, bringing the Florida total to 223,783.

"It's clear now that our government is so overwhelmed by this crisis, that it's up to the people to solve it. I hope we are up to the task."

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