Florida knew a COVID-19 pandemic was likely. State leaders didn't warn the public.

Three months ago, Floridians were celebrating Valentine’s Day unaware that the novel coronavirus posed any real threat to their lives, or that it was likely already spreading through the state. No one had told them to be worried.

While the public was kept in the dark, top Florida health officials were scrambling to come up with a plan for a crisis they knew was upon them, according to internal Florida Department of Health data and communications obtained by the Miami Herald. The records show that on Feb. 13 DOH assembled an emergency response team. The team’s mission: “Contain the spread of the virus.” It also began preparing for N95 mask shortages and privately providing pandemic protocols to long-term care facilities, warning them about the risks the virus posed to elderly residents.

By mid-February, Raul Pino, the recently appointed director of the Department of Health’s office in Orange County, was growing concerned about COVID-19 overwhelming his resources. The department was stretched thin as it tried to comply with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance to monitor people who may have been exposed to the virus.

“At this point we are following 67 individuals and we must establish contact within 24 hours,” Pino wrote in a Feb. 15 email to an official at the Florida Department of Health in Tallahassee. “We can manage as we are — and I am moving additional resources — but, if the volume continues to increase, we may face some resistance.”