Reports: Office That Oversaw FL Covid-19 Dashboard Praised By White House Sidelined

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Coverage By Soumyadeep Pal

May 19, 2020

TOPLINE

The office overseeing Florida’s Covid-19 data dashboard no longer has authority over the tool, according to multiple reports, raising questions about the state’s data accuracy and transparency commitments as it reopens⁠—along with fears from researchers that the data will become less available.

A man walks on a closed Miami, Florida beach amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

KEY FACTS

Rebekah Jones, the architect of Florida’s dashboard that tracks infections and deaths, revealed in a Friday email first reported by Florida Today that her office in the Department of Health was removed May 5 from managing the tool.

“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 the reason I am no longer managing it,” Jones wrote, according to the Miami Herald.

In a separate email to CBS’ West Palm Beach affiliate, Jones claimed that her office was removed after she refused to “manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen.”

White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborax Birx previously praised Florida’s dashboard in an April Face The Nation appearance: “That’s the kind of knowledge and power we need to put into the hands of American people.”

Jones also told the CBS affiliate that in recent weeks, the dashboard has crashed or gone offline, while some of the data has disappeared or become difficult to access.

“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,” a spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a statement to the Herald.

Chief critic

“The virus doesn’t really give a damn if you hide its numbers,” said University of Central Florida researcher Jennifer Larsen to Florida Today in response to Jones’ office being sidelined. “We would not accept this lack of transparency for any other natural disaster, so why are we willing to accept it here?”

Key background

According to the Herald, DeSantis has spoken favorably about his administration’s data transparency during the coronavirus pandemic. The Covid-19 dashboard created by Jones’ office in the state Department of Health is designed to show case counts that can be viewed by county, zip code and day, along with hospitalizations and the death toll. Along with the public, the media, and politicians, the dashboard data is used by epidemiologists and researchers. But the Herald reported that the state has avoided revealing certain data not tracked by the dashboard (like infections and deaths at nursing homes) unless threatened by lawsuits. As for the future of the dashboard, Jones wrote in the email: “They are making a lot of changes. I would advise being diligent in your respective uses of this data.”

Further reading

Florida’s COVID-19 website guru blasts bosses, hints at data suppression (Miami Herald)

As Florida re-opens, COVID-19 data chief gets sidelined and researchers cry foul (Florida Today)

Woman who designed Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard has been removed from her position (CBS12)

Florida’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard (Florida Department of Health)

WWE Axes Stars, Despite Florida’s Determination That Wrestling Is ‘Essential’ Business (Forbes)

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