Florida blocks COVID-19 information from public as Gov. Ron DeSantis touts transparency

MIAMI — When the Miami Herald sought information from the Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office last month about COVID-19 deaths in the epicenter of Florida’s coronavirus outbreak, attorneys for the state health department moved to block the records from becoming public.Emails and phone conference appointments obtained through a public records request show that, while medical examiners across Florida had already released details about deaths in their counties, attorneys for the state spent more than a week trying to persuade their counterparts in Miami-Dade County not to provide that informatio...