In February 2020, the Department of Health declined an invite to a discussion hosted by Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy of Winter Park with local health experts about the virus. At the time, Sen. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, a known advocate for Florida’s public records laws, questioned Rivkees about why the state was not yet reporting COVID-19 information publicly when it had regular updates with cases of the Zika virus a few years before.