On the dashboard she designed to track the state’s numbers, Florida scientist Rebekah Jones claims she was fired for “refusing to manipulate” COVID-19 data.
Jones was removed from her position as the architect and manager of dashboard site on May 5 for “reasons beyond [her] division’s control,” she claims. She also adds that her exit was “not voluntary,” in an email to Florida’s CBS affiliate, and that it was due to her refusing to “manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen.”
In an email to colleagues, Jones continued, “I understand, appreciate, and even share your concern about all the dramatic changes that have occurred and those that are yet to come. As a word of caution, I would not expect the new team to continue the same level of accessibility and transparency that I made central to the process during the first two months. After all, my commitment to both is largely (arguably entirely) the reason I am no longer managing it.”
Additionally, Florida Department of Health’s Dr. Deborah Birx stated last month, “That’s the kind of knowledge and power we need to put into the hands of American people so that they can see where the virus is, where the cases are, and make decisions.”
