THE DESANTIS FLU:

Instead of including county deaths in its weekly reports, the state directed the public to find that information via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the CDC relied on Florida's online portal of COVID data -- which the state also took down in June. The CDC's tally of deaths for Florida went blank.

The number of people dying in each Florida county went missing from June 4 through Sept. 17. Miscommunication has plagued the relationship between the state and federal agency since the start of the pandemic.

Now that data is available, and it shows how many people died in Tampa Bay as the delta variant tore through the state:

A total of 4,437 residents in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Manatee, Polk, Hernando and Citrus counties died over four months. That's an average of 36 Tampa Bay residents dying each day from COVID-related complications from June 5 to Oct. 7, according to the latest data.

The data reveals how deadly the latest COVID wave has been in two of the region's smallest, most rural counties: Citrus and Hernando rank third and fourth in deaths per 100,000 residents since June 5.

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