Coronavirus Scientist Fired For Refusing To Manipulate Data To 'Drum Up Support' For Florida Reopening

Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R) denies any involvement in the sudden firing of Rebekah Jones, the scientist that developed the state's much-lauded COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard, calling it "a nonissue." And, echoing a familiar line heard from President Donald Trump, DeSantis said he didn't even know who this person is.

Jones' firing has gone viral given her high-profile role in the state's fight against the disease. It gained more traction when Jones herself asserted Monday she was fired by the Florida Department of Health (DOH) for refusing to manipulate data supporting the state government's decision to quickly reopen for business. In an email to USA Today, Jones denied she wasn't removed from her position as Geographic Information Systems manager for DOH but was fired.

She confirmed she was terminated for refusing to censor some data, and for refusing to "manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen (the Florida economy)."

Jones said she single-handedly created the state's COVID-19 data dashboard. This online resource consists of two applications in English and Spanish. The portal also features four dashboards and six unique maps with layers of data functionality for 32 variables covering a half a million lines of data.

She said her objective in creating the portal was to give Floridians and researchers a way to see what the COVID-19 situation in Florida in real time.

"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 to USA Today. She also confirmed she was fired from her job, and not just reassigned, in the same email.

For his part, DeSantis told a press conference in Tallahassee Jones had sent an email to her supervisor saying she wasn't fired but simply needed a break after two straight months of hard work on the dashboard.

Despite claiming not to know who Jones was, DeSantis, nevertheless, praised Jones' masterpiece: the state's COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard. He lauded the online system for its accuracy.

“Our dashboard has been recognized nationally," said DeSantis. "Dr. (Deborah) Birx has praised it multiple times. It’s a heck of a tool. Just as we’re very transparent with this you can drill down and see all the different data on each individual county. And I think that that’s a very good thing. And I’m proud of the folks who work on it.”