Public statement of the programmer to manipulation of data in Florida...

[Sancho]

https://geojones.org/2020/05/22/public-statement/?fbclid=IwAR0ajEq20BD29ZmwUUnImSgVA7_8yILARl8sWXiybpVT7DbDqXf5CADshuY

Statement issued by Rebekah Jones for public release

Governor DeSantis’ office rightfully faces tough questions from the public, press, and state and federal lawmakers regarding data transparency following a series of public missteps and controversies, including my removal from the dashboard and associated data I built and managed for the Florida Department of Health.

Historical data has been removed or become inaccessible, and researchers are now being told they won’t be given access to data previously published for at least another year. The dashboard I built and managed for months continues to crash under its new management, with data going missing or showing questionable numbers, and the interface itself constantly glitching and disabling features. Reports of mismanagement and misleading numbers plague an office I once helped establish as the gold standard for public data sharing.

The only directive I refused was to manually change data in a misleading way to drum up public support of resuming pre-pandemic level of activities without a science- based assessment of each county’s respective risk or readiness to do so. The request to mislead the public with falsified data made me uneasy, and I immediately reached out to my supervisor, as well as my friends and family, about what happened. It was no secret in our office that Shamarial Roberson asked me to compromise my integrity and use my dashboard to mislead the public about the safety of reopening each county. I had never in my academic or professional career as a scientist been asked to manipulate data to influence public opinion, and I am still caught in disbelief that this person remains employed by DOH, while I have been wrongfully terminated and defamed by the Governor and state employees.

I did what any scientist would when asked to do something wrong – I said no and I made clear that I would not participate in any research or activity using misleading data that could get people sick or worse.

Read the whole statement. The Florida website is not accurate.

[SWBTATTReg]

1. My hat off to this brave person, to dispute the inaccurate manipulating of the facts in such a ...

way that may confuse some who accesses the website and associated facts. The deliberate distortion of facts should be a crime of some sort, but I don't know what, e.g., endangering the public welfare?

[RVN VET71]

7. It's morally reprehensible, a mortal sin, so to speak, but not a crime

And Desantis and his fellow Satan worshippers (I made that up about worshipping Satan, but it sure as f*ck fits, doesn't it?) don't give 2 figs for immorality or sinning. If they did they wouldn't be going into the everglades to strip naked, fornicate with the goat Lord, and dance around fires on Witches' Sabbat. (I'm not sure if I made that up. It sounds like something Republicans in Florida would do. I could be wrong. Look it up, someone. I heard stories, lots of stories, from people all over the place, from everywhere.)

[3Hotdogs]

9. People say this is happening.

[Salviati]

22. I've definitely read that in places.

[yardwork]

16. It might be a crime. I'm not familiar with all of FL's statutes.

[Stuart G]

2. Very brave person....K and R

[gibraltar72]

3. Well not any scientist or Dr. would have done this. Just sayin.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. She needs to preserve documents and get a lawyer.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Just Wow!

I'm reaching the conclusion that everything about Florida is corrupt.

Those of us who are trying to uphold the good qualities we were raised with, are fighting a lonely battle.

"The only directive I refused was to manually change data in a misleading way to drum up public support of resuming pre-pandemic level of activities without a science- based assessment of each county’s respective risk or readiness to do so."

[dchill]

6. K&R.

[mcar]

8. DeRacist flat out lied about her,

her education, credentials, everything.

[chia]

10. Thank you, Rebekah Jones. I wonder now she was removed they'll ever uncover accurate data or

if it's been disappeared forever.

[superpatriotman]

13. Sunshine State is an ironic nickname

The backwater regressives in Tallahassee are keeping the state darker than a mushroom funeral

[Stuart G]

11. So, who to believe?..the scientist,,,or the Trump todie/liar/con artist-De Santis.?

Kinda tough choice? ...Not really...

[superpatriotman]

12. Shamarial Roberson misleads the public

on behalf on Plump's fluffer

Shamarial Roberson needs to be outed.

Shamarial Roberson manipulates health data to influence public opinion

[iluvtennis]

14. When all esle fails,manipulate the data. So proud of Rebekah Jones for calling it out. Unfortunately

someone will destroy the data she had collected/maintained, never to be found again.

[ananda]

15. FL is not the only one, either.

I think it's a lot of red states misreporting and fudging
the figures.

[magicarpet]

17. It is just like voting,...

... fudge the numbers - then just call it a win.

[ancianita]

18. The Tampa Bay Times has been giving this issue coverage since early May, I believe.

Which might be one reason she's come forward, done this interview with Chris Cuomo and made a statement.

So far, Floridians know what they've read in the papers.

Here's the latest from the Tampa Bay Times. (formerly the Tampa Tribune)

https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/05/22/ousted-manager-was-told-to-manipulate-covid-19-data-before-states-re-opening-she-says/

Jones, 30, did not respond to questions from a reporter on specifics on which data she meant or how she was asked to change it. Jones said manipulated data was used for the reopening plan, provided by an outside vendor, but that she did not know who the vendor was.

Thursday's Miami Herald
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article242892011.html

...health experts told the Miami Herald last month they were concerned the number of pending COVID-19 tests listed by the state is an undercount because Florida reports only the number of Floridians waiting to get test results from state labs, not private ones — and private labs are completing more than 90% of state tests.

Previously, it’s taken as long as two weeks for the results of pending tests from private labs to be added into the state’s official count, making it difficult for officials to project the size and scale of the pandemic in the state.

And on Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed that a weekend spike of about 550 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Miami-Dade County was largely due to a backlog of three-week-old test results from an undisclosed testing site. He said the site was “not affiliated with the state.”

Back in April...

"State Officials Block Florida Medical Examiners From Releasing Data On Coronavirus Deaths"

https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/state-officials-block-florida-medical-examiners-releasing-data-coronavirus-deaths

[SleeplessinSoCal]

19. It's War!

"ORLANDO, Fla. - Florida's governor says the woman who was in charge of the state's COVID-19 dashboard has active criminal cases against her, suggesting her claims of data manipulation were just being amplified by those looking for a "boogeyman."

Rebekah Jones, a geospatial scientist formerly with the state Department of Health, reportedly told several media outlets she was asked to remove data showing that COVID-19 patients first reported symptoms earlier than state officials originally announced. She claimed that when she refused to "manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen," she was given the choice to resign or be fired."

https://www.fox13news.com/news/desantis-former-manager-of-coronavirus-dashboard-not-a-data-scientist-faces-cyber-stalking-charge

Another source including Jones' lawyer.

https://cbs12.com/news/local/covid-19-dashboard-designer-faces-cyber-sexual-harassment-charges-desantis-says

[Crowman2009]

20. The accusation from the governor are BS!

Just because he claims that she is under investigation does not take away the fact that she was ordered by state officials to remove data. Sort of like when sexist scumbags in politics or criminal justice try to blame rape victims for the crimes committed against them.

[Jarqui]

23. I have good friends in Florida

They have been considering that data in their decision as to when to come home.
They both are high risk.

So this story hits a little closer to home.

The woman who wrote that blog conveys heavy vibes that she's telling the truth.

The conduct of DeSantis & his government is outrageous.

They're risking a lot of lives and trying to cover it up as I think has been happening in other red states.

[CaptainTruth]

24. I live in FL & I swear the state is a miniature version of the Trump shit show.

And it's intentional. Our governor Ron DeRacist wants to be Trump Jr. I hate him & from comments I see he's pissing off a lot of us.

Our Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried (Florida's only statewide-elected Democrat) has been taking on DeRacist in the press & on social media, & I'm really hoping she runs for governor.

It won't be until 2022, but if DeRacist keeps screwing up like he is & Nikki keeps waging prominent opposition, like she has been recently, I think she could beat him.

[Pacifist Patriot]

27. With Gov. DeRacist, Senator Voldemort, and Senator Bible Thumper...

we're all on our own to protect ourselves.

I like Commissioner Fried. I too hope she persists and prevails.

[Martin Eden]

25. If this doesn't have major conequences for the Florida GOP

Then there is no accountability or justice.

[Pacifist Patriot]

26. I have been keying their numbers into a spreadsheet daily since March 26.

In my opinion, besides the problems inherent with minimal insufficient testing, the data shit really hit the fan big time on or around April 23-25. There were certainly problems before then, but something big happened around that time frame. No clue what, but something did.

The Florida website is absolutely and definitively NOT accurate!

[Native]

28. Looking forward to the upcoming investigation...

The Deputy Secretary of Health, Shamarial Roberson, asked me to manipulate and delete data in late April as work for the state’s reopening plan started to take off, and she is the one who ordered me off the dashboard and fired me when I objected to repeated requests to manually alter, hide and delete public data. All of this is provable through email and texts, which are subject to public records request. The details of what I was asked to do and how the data was eventually changed will likely be made public in the coming months as state and federal investigations and testimony unfold.

[Grins]

29. Lawsuit!!! Where are her lawyers?

And if she doesn’t have one, why not?