https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...data-researcher-out-state-reopens/5218897002/ Florida's scientist was fired for refusing to 'manipulate' COVID-19 data Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon Florida Today BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The scientist who created Florida's COVID-19 data portal wasn't just removed from her position on May 5, she was fired on Monday by the Department of Health, she said, for refusing to manipulate data. Rebekah Jones said in an email to the USA TODAY Network that she single-handedly created two applications in two languages, four dashboards, six unique maps with layers of data functionality for 32 variables covering a half a million lines of data. Her objective was to create a way for Floridians and researchers to see what the COVID-19 situation was in real time. Then, she was dismissed. "I worked on it alone, sixteen hours a day for two months, most of which I was never paid for, and now that this has happened I'll probably never get paid for," she wrote in an email, confirming that she had not just been reassigned on May 5, but fired from her job as Geographic Information Systems manager for the Florida Department of Health. After USA TODAY Network first reported Jones' removal from her position in charge of the Florida COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard she created, she confirmed, as reported by CBS-12 in West Palm Beach that she was fired because she was ordered to censor some data, but refused to "manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen." She provided no further details. In an email last Friday to researchers and other data users, Jones warned that with her removal changes were likely coming to the accessibility and transparency of the dashboard data. "They are making a lot of changes. I would advise being diligent in your respective uses of this data," she wrote. Researchers who saw the email reacted with shock and dismay, suggesting it could be evidence that the Gov. Ron De Santis' government was censoring information to support the case for re-opening Florida. Lucky Tran, a Biologist and public health communicator at Columbia University, on Twitter reacted to the news in a series of tweets: "When politicians censor scientists and manipulate the numbers, the rest of us suffer," he wrote. US Congresswoman representing Tampa Bay, Kathy Castor wrote: "Floridians will not feel safe in opening up without transparency." Governor Ron DeSantis' spokeswoman, Helen Aguirre Ferré, issued a statement to the Miami Herald, saying: “The Florida COVID-19 Dashboard was created by the Geographic Information System (GIS) team in the Division of Disease Control and Health Protection at the Florida Department of Health. Although Rebekah Jones is no longer involved, the GIS team continues to manage and update the Dashboard providing accurate and important information that is publicly accessible.” But emails from Jones through April showed that Jones was the one responding to feedback from researchers in a bid to improve and update her product. Jones told the USA TODAY Network that she alone was responsible for "every line of code." In a May 5 email in which she announced the launch of a Spanish-language version of the dashboard, Jones wrote: "Please be patient as we get all this connected and running smoothly, and do let me know if you see any errors." It was sent the same day she was removed from her role managing of the dashboard. For 60-days Jones said she never took a day off, not even when a powerful April 12 Easter tornado leveled her parents' home in Southeast Mississippi. A GoFundMe page was set up to help her family recover. Luckily, her mother survived. Her father, a truck driver, was in Texas at the time. "Sorry if I’ve been a little slow to respond these last few days," she wrote to data users in an email just 3 days later reporting updates to how data was organized, and the inclusion of county-level race data. Jones provided detailed updates in emails every few days, often technical and always responsive to user feedback. At the time was dismissed, she was working on making historical data more accessible to users. On April 25, Jones provided an explanation to why the data set would go from morning and evening daily updates to just once per day. "We’re gearing up to provide more analytics and data, and would not be able to process the full dataset twice daily with the staff we have," she wrote. "We have been directed to start tracking data related to reopening, and it is consuming a lot of staff hours on very short notice." Days later she would be removed from the position entirely and her data users sounded the alarm that government might be censoring science. Jones had worked with the Department of Health as a geospatial analyst and then a Geographic Information System (GIS) manager since obtaining her doctorate in Geography from Florida State University in 2018. She holds a masters of science degree in geography and mass communication from Louisiana State University and a bachelors in Journalism and Geography from Syracuse University. The Department of Health has so far not replied to request for comment.
This is sad.... another example of a state Governor's administration deliberately publishing fake data to drive their re-open agenda. At this point you cannot count on anything the Georgia or Florida state governments provide regarding COVID-19. This is why people don't trust the government. Transparency in data is critically important.
DeSantis will do anything not to look like a fool after he danced and pranced in front of the media haha
New COVID-19 Death Dispute: Colorado Coroner Says State Mischaracterized Death CORTEZ, Colo. (CBS4) – When police in Cortez, Colorado were called to Cortez City Park early on the morning of May 4, they found Sebastian Yellow, 35, lying on the ground and called it out as a code “Frank,” meaning Yellow had died, according to a police report obtained by CBS4. Within a week, local Montezuma County Coroner George Deavers determined Yellow had died of acute alcohol poisoning, his blood alcohol measured at .55, nearly twice the lethal limit. (credit: Sebastian Yellow) “It was almost double what the minimum lethal amount was in the state”, said Deavers, during an interview with CBS4. But Deavers said that before he even signed the death certificate, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had already categorized Yellow’s death as being due to COVID-19 and it was tabulated that way on the state’s website. “I can see no reason for this”, said Deavers. Yellow’s death is the latest in Colorado raising eyebrows over the way the CDPHE is reclassifying deaths that runs contrary to what doctors and coroners initially ruled. Last month, a CBS4 Investigation revealed the state health department reclassified three deaths at a Centennial nursing home as COVID-19 deaths, despite the fact attending physicians ruled all three were not related to coronavirus. In each case, the residents had tested positive for COVID-19, but in each case, on-scene doctors ruled the deaths were not related to the virus. Still, in their official tally, the state increased the number of coronavirus deaths at the Someren Glen facility from four to seven, based on the disputed deaths. (credit: CBS) On Thursday, state Rep. Mark Baisley, a Republican representing Douglas and Teller Counties, wrote a letter to District Attorney George Brauchler of the 18th Judicial District, asking for a criminal investigation into the reclassification of the Someren Glen deaths and criminal charges against Jill Ryan, the director of the state health department. Baisley wrote that what occurred was “deliberate acts of certificate falsification” and said Baisley, ”I believe these acts of falsely altering death certificates to be criminal acts of tremendous concern to you and my constituents. I hereby request that you investigate this matter with the intent of bringing criminal charges against Jill Ryan.” Now Montezuma County Coroner George Deavers finds himself in a similar situation in southwestern Colorado, officially ruling Yellow’s death as “ethanol toxicity” but seeing the state record it differently. “They should have to be recording the same way I do. They have to go off the truth and facts and list it as such,” said Deavers. He said following Yellow’s death, the man was tested for COVID-19 since he had been associating with someone who was positive for the virus, and the information can be useful in tracking the path of the virus. Deavers said that test on Yellow came back positive, but the coroner insists that had nothing to do with Yellow’s death. In fact, Deavers says a secondary cause was cirrohsis of the liver. (credit: iStock/Getty Images Plus) “It wasn’t COVID, it was alcohol toxicity,” said Deavers.”Yes, he did have COVID but that is not what took his life.” Deavers said he has been calling officials at the CDPHE this week to understand why they classified Yellow’s death as related to the virus, but he said as of Thursday morning, he had not yet received an explanation. He said in Cortez, citizens are wondering what’s going on. “They’re thinking the state is trying to inflate numbers which it does look like it, whether they are or not, I don’t know,” said Deavers. He said some have suggested, “They’re trying to make it look like its worse than it really is, I don’t know if that’s what their intentions are. Maybe they’re trying to do it for some of the two trillion budgeted in for the COVID.” However some statisticians, epidemiologists and medical experts, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, have suggested that COVID-19 deaths are likely being undercounted, not over counted. Fauci testified this week before the Senate and was asked if 80,000 deaths from COVID was accurate. “Most of us feel that the number of deaths are likely higher than that number,” said Fauci. He told the Senate, “I don’t know exactly what percent higher, but almost certainly it’s higher.” CBS4 contacted the state health department Thursday requesting an explanation for how Yellow’s death was categorized. No immediate explanation was given. But in the case of the Someren Glen deaths, a CDPHE spokesperson said, “The department follows the CDC’s case definition of COVID-19 cases and deaths… When a person with a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 dies, their death is automatically counted as a COVID-19 death unless there is another cause that completely rules out COVID-19 such as a fatal physical injury.” Regardless, in Cortez, Deavers says the death of Sebastian Yellow and how the state is handling it is proving problematic. The county has recorded 25 coronavirus cases but 13 of those have recovered, so there are just a dozen active cases, and before Sebastian Yellow, two deaths. The county applied May 4 for a variance from the statewide safer-at-home public health order to allow restaurants, retail establishments and other businesses to reopen. In its application the county cited its low number of coronavirus cases, but the CDPHE denied that request. The state health department said, “Our reviewers have some concerns about vulnerabilities in Montezuma County and want to monitor the situation before further considering a variance.” Deavers said, “We have a low number of cases, low number of deaths in our county and we have businesses here that possibly are not going to reopen. Apparently this specific case was what helped them deny letting the variance go through.” The state health department cited the number of coronavirus cases but other factors as well, including high death and infection rates in adjacent counties in New Mexico. In a letter to Montezuma County, CDPHE said it was concerned with increasing local cases and the situation in New Mexico which could cause problems for the health care system in Montezuma county. CDPHE responded with this statement: We classify a death as confirmed when there was a case who had a positive SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) laboratory test and then died. We also classify some deaths as probable. You can find the full criteria for that on our website under “About our Data,” but the gist is that there must be strong epidemiological evidence of COVID-19 such as a combination of close contact with a confirmed case and symptoms of COVID-19. We will also count a death as a COVID-19 death when there is no known positive laboratory test but the death certificate lists “COVID-19” as a cause of death.
Actually the narrative is that COVID-19 needs to be transparent and not manipulated. It does not matter which party is doing it. I find the actions in Colorado to be wrong (if proven). However the scale of manipulation of published COVID-19 in Georgia and Florida where the governor's administration is deliberately pushing misinformation to drive their political agenda is much worse than this particular small scale situation in Colorado that appears to involve the cause of death for 4 individuals who passed-away & tested positive for COVID but may have died from other causes.