Woman questioning Florida's COVID-19 data was reprimanded for violating health dept policy

A woman who raised questions about Florida's COVID-19 data after being ousted as the data's curator had been reprimanded several times for violating Health Department policy, including for posting political commentary about the information, state records show.

Rebekah Jones' comments over the past week and a half in emails to researchers, interviews with a handful of media outlets, and blog posts have sought to sow doubt about the credibility of the data now that she is no longer in that role.

State health officials strenuously deny any issue with the information's accuracy as Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis seeks to make a data-driven case for a step-by-step reopening of the state's battered economy following safer-at-home orders.

Jones has not alleged any tampering with data on deaths, hospital symptom surveillance, hospitalizations for COVID-19, numbers of new confirmed cases, or overall testing rates.

She has, however, suggested Health Department managers wanted her to manipulate information to paint a rosier picture and that she pushed back.