DeSantis criticizes ousted Florida health official who questioned data
Source: CBS News
BY KATHRYN WATSON
MAY 20, 2020 / 9:01 PM / CBS NEWS
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday criticized an ousted Florida official who questioned the state's coronavirus data. Rebekah Jones, who helped manage Florida's COVID-19 data center for the Florida Department of Health, claimed she was fired for refusing to manually alter data to create support for the Sunshine State's reopening plan. But the governor's office has denied that, maintaining Jones was fired for insubordination and disruptive behavior.
Standing next to Vice President Mike Pence, who was in Florida to highlight the state's reopening, DeSantis criticized Jones in front of reporters.
"One, she's not a data scientist. She is somebody that's got a degree in journalism, communication and geography," DeSantis said in Orlando. "She is not involved in collating any data, she does not have the expertise to do that. She is not an epidemiologist. She is not the chief architect of our web portal, that is another false statement. And what she was doing was she was putting data on the portal which the scientists didn't believe was valid data. So she didn't listen to the people who were her superiors, she had many people above her in the chain of command. So she was dismissed because of that and because of a bunch of different reasons about how she did."
Emails obtained by the Tampa Bay Times show that one day before she lost her position keeping up coronavirus data, Jones objected to a removal of records showing people had positive tests or symptoms before cases were announced.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/desantis-criticizes-fired-florida-health-official-who-questioned-coronavirus-data/
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)OPINION
The DeSantis administration claims to be transparent. Then why fire a data manager after a dispute over releasing data?
Published 5 hours ago
Gov. Ron DeSantis loves to share praise from Washington about Floridas handling of the coronavirus outbreak. But when that narrative is threatened, his administrations response is to temporarily hide the numbers, fire the data manager who objected and then smear her. This is fast becoming the governors routine: Claim to be open while hiding the facts, question the credibility of information or individuals who cloud his success story, and criticize the media for reporting the complete picture.
As the Tampa Bay Times Langston Taylor reported, data manager Rebekah Jones lost her role maintaining the states COVID-19 data one day after she objected to the removal of records showing people had symptoms or positive tests well before the cases were announced. As internal emails obtained by the Times showed, Health Department staff gave the order shortly after reporters began requesting the data from the agency in early May. Jones complied with the order, but not before she told her supervisors it was the wrong call. By the next morning, control over the data was given to other employees. Jones said Tuesday that she was offered a settlement and the opportunity to resign in lieu of being fired, but a spokeswoman for DeSantis said Tuesday that Jones had been terminated.
The data noted that some people first reported coronavirus symptoms as early as Jan. 1, far earlier than when positive cases were first confirmed in March. But the information vanished from the database for much of May 4 and 5 before being restored. These first reports of symptoms could be immensely helpful in tracing the virus early spread throughout Florida. But they also could be embarrassing for the governor, for they came as DeSantis continued to deny through early March that community spread was occurring in Florida, despite the fear of some public health experts. And they predate by months the governors issuance of a statewide stay-at-home order that took effect April 3.
DeSantis dodged the issue during a news conference Tuesday, saying Jones concerns had been misrepresented by reporters. Then his spokeswoman issued an email accusing Jones of insubordination during her time with the department. DeSantis upped the ante Wednesday, declaring Jones shouldnt have been working for the state because of serious criminal charges against her. But he misstated the nature of the charges, which is a single pending misdemeanor charge for stalking in Leon County.
More:
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2020/05/20/how-coronavirus-candor-gets-you-fired-then-smeared-by-gov-ron-desantis-editorial/
Bengus81
(6,907 posts)If he would have had his way 100% Florida would have never shut anything down.
lark
(23,003 posts)Guess they finally purged out everyone who has a house in another state, regardless if they caught the virus here in FL and havent been to the other state. DeSantis proves yet again that he's a lying killer clone of Cheetolini.
Cartaphelius
(868 posts)don't require your state withhold (HIDE) the actual numbers
from the citizens that pay your salary, et al.