Agents raid home of ousted Florida health scientist who accused state of manipulating data

Source: The Hill | December 7, 2020 | Joseph Choi

Florida state police raided a home on Monday belonging to a scientist who created the state’s COVID-19 data dashboard but was fired for what she says was her refusal to “manipulate data.” 

Agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) entered Rebekah Jones’s home with guns raised and confiscated computer equipment, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Jones tweeted a video of the incident, writing, “At 8:30 am this morning, state police came into my house and took all my hardware and tech. They were serving a warrant on my computer after DOH [Department of Health] filed a complaint. They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids.”

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In May, Jones was fired from the Florida Department of Health, where she had worked as geographic information systems manager. The COVID-19 dashboard Jones created was praised for its quality, the Tallahassee Democrat noted.

After her termination, she released emails from her supervisors asking her to remove access to data on the dashboard and take it offline completely. Jones alleges that her termination had to do with her refusal to “manually change data” that made the state’s reopening plan appear more favorable.

Jones created her own COVID-19 data platform after being fired called “The COVID Monitor.” According to Jones, the data and backups that powered this platform were also taken during the raid.

The incident occurred less than a week after the Sun Sentinel released a report stating that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) administration had instructed department of health spokespeople to avoid talking about the pandemic until after the Nov. 3 election.

The Sun Sentinel reported that DeSantis and his allies had engaged in a widespread campaign to downplay and misinterpret information on the COVID-19 pandemic. It included ignoring qualified experts on immunology, spreading misinformation through social media and denying the existence of community spread at the beginning of the pandemic.

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  • Consistent December 8, 2020 at 12:10 am #45239

    Consistent December 8, 2020 at 12:11 am #45240

    EVERYDAY December 8, 2020 at 6:03 am #45244

    Would like to have the state’s side on this. I suppose they are accusing Jones of unauthorized use of its COVID data, but why was this raid so necessary?

    Florida is a hot COVID mess these days. Thousands dying and no mask mandate or other preventive measures implemented. The governor and local officials should be impeached.

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