After scientist fired, Florida governor calls coronavirus data manipulation charge a 'nonissue'

SARASOTA, Fla. – Facing an explosive charge that his administration is manipulating coronavirus data to help make the case for reopening Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis played down the controversy Tuesday as a “nonissue.”

Florida’s COVID-19 death toll topped 2,000 Tuesday, underscoring the serious threat posed by the coronavirus and the potential consequences of not giving people accurate information on the risks involved.

Health experts say the milestone should serve as a sobering reminder to exercise caution as the state reopens, and DeSantis has presented his reopening plan as a “safe” and “step by step” approach. But the accusations levied by Rebekah Jones, a data expert at the Florida Department of Health, could undercut the governor’s reopening push.

Jones wrote in an email last week that she no longer was overseeing the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, which she built and managed for two months.

"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,” Jones wrote. “After all, my commitment to both is largely (arguably entirely) the reason I am no longer managing it."

But DeSantis said at a Tuesday news conference that Jones sent an email to her supervisor saying the comments were being misinterpreted.

“I don’t know who she is but they gave me an email that she sent to her supervisor, said that, ‘Uh oh, I may have said something that was misrepresented,’ ” DeSantis said.

He added that Jones went on to write: “I said they’ve got a team working on it now and what I meant when I said don’t expect the same level of accessibility is that they are busy and can’t answer every single email they get right away and that it was ridiculous that I managed to do it in the first place and that I was tired and needed a break from working two months straight."

Jones told Florida Today that she was fired on Monday. And she said in an email to the CBS12 television station in West Palm Beach that she faced blowback because she refused to "manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen."

DeSantis spokeswoman Helen Aguirre Ferré, in a separate statement after the news conference, said Jones was fired for "insubordination." (Her complete statement is also at bottom.)

Jones "exhibited a repeated course of insubordination during her time with the Department, including her unilateral decisions to modify the Department’s COVID-19 dashboard without input or approval from the epidemiological team or her supervisors," Ferré said.

"The blatant disrespect for the professionals who were working around the clock to provide the important information for the COVID-19 website was harmful to the team," she added. "Accuracy and transparency are always indispensable, especially during an unprecedented public health emergency such as COVID-19.

"Having someone disruptive cannot be tolerated during this public pandemic, which led the Department to determine that it was best to terminate her employment."

Asal M. Johnson, an assistant professor of Public Health at Stetson University, told Florida Today that she worried the health department is trying "to undermine evidence-based decision making to prioritize (the) economy."

Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo called for an independent investigation into the alleged data manipulation.

“Allegations that Florida’s government may have tried to manipulate or alter data to make reopening appear safer is outrageous,” Rizzo said. “These kinds of actions are dangerous and, frankly, should be criminal.”

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat, wrote a letter to DeSantis requesting that members of his administration appear at the state’s next Cabinet meeting to answer questions about the accusations levied by Jones.

“These actions undermine public trust in our government, are extraordinarily dangerous to public health, and are absolutely inconsistent with the transparency and accuracy that Floridians expect and deserve during this pandemic,” Fried wrote.

Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Health reported 55 more COVID-19 deaths Tuesday, bringing the statewide total to 2,052.

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“In a rather short period of time we lost over 2,000 people in Florida to COVID-19, a disease we hadn’t even heard of before this year,” said Dr. Marissa Levine, a professor of public health and family medicine at the University of South Florida who leads the school’s Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice.

“As we work to reopen Florida it is critical for us all to remember that we each have a role in controlling this pandemic. Our individual and collective actions will determine the course of this pandemic in our own communities and will be the key as to whether we experience an even greater spike of disease and death in the coming months.”

Florida health officials reported the state’s first COVID-19 death March 6, meaning it took 74 days to top 2,000 deaths.

The novel coronavirus has become one of the leading causes of death in Florida in just over two months. Based on 2018 death totals, 2,052 deaths would rank 16th among Florida’s top causes of death, above homicides and HIV.

Influenza and pneumonia killed 3,082 people in Florida in 2018. The coronavirus could top that this year.

Florida health officials are reporting a steady stream of new coronavirus cases, and more deaths are sure to follow.

The state’s coronavirus case total rose by 502 Tuesday to 46,944.

Floridians should be careful as they emerge from a monthlong lockdown, said Levine, who previously served as Virginia’s state health commissioner.

“We know the virus is still circulating in our communities in Florida as well as around the nation and the globe,” Levine said. “Although we don’t have complete information, our best estimates tell us that many in our communities still remain vulnerable to the virus.

"Given Florida’s demographics and the burden of chronic disease in the population, many of us are at high risk of serious complications and even death.”

DeSantis began lifting Florida’s lockdown this month. He has focused on the fact that the state’s health care system has not been overwhelmed, as some models predicted, and hospitals have plenty of available beds.

DeSantis touted his reopening strategy Monday during a news conference in Orlando. He has branded it the “Safe. Smart. Step by Step” plan as he seeks to avoid criticism that he is moving too fast, something public health officials are warning against.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said during a U.S. Senate hearing last week that “the consequences could be really serious” if states reopen “prematurely.”

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“I’m just looking forward to helping bring us back,” DeSantis said Monday. “Obviously we still have issues with public health; that’s not going to go away, but I think we have a pathway to get Florida moving again.”

DeSantis is pushing a phased reopening that accelerated this week when gyms, libraries and museums were allowed to welcome people at 50% capacity. Restaurants and other retail establishments were allowed to increase from 25% to 50% occupancy.

The governor also allowed barbershops and hair salons to reopen last week, and many municipalities have reopened beaches.

Public health experts worry that the number of new cases and deaths could spike if the state reopens and people don’t continue to practice social distancing and take other precautions.

“Our only tools to deal with this have remained the same: physical distancing (including cloth face coverings) and aggressive hygienic practices,“ Levine said. ”Our ability to adapt and incorporate those practices into our everyday lives will determine the success of our reopening.

"I am hopeful that we will not interpret reopening as a return to the normal we once knew, but rather to a new normal that incorporates the adaptations we need to implement to protect one another.”

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Governor Ron DeSantis' office full statement on Rebekah Jones

Rebekah Jones’ duties were to display data obtained by the Department’s epidemiological staff. The team that created the graphics on the dashboard, which was made up by multiple people, received data that was provided by subject matter experts, including Senior Epidemiologists, Surveillance Epidemiologists, and a Senior Database Analyst.

Jones exhibited a repeated course of insubordination during her time with the Department, including her unilateral decisions to modify the Department’s COVID-19 dashboard without input or approval from the epidemiological team or her supervisors. The blatant disrespect for the professionals who were working around the clock to provide the important information for the COVID-19 website was harmful to the team.

Accuracy and transparency are always indispensable, especially during an unprecedented public health emergency such as COVID-19. Having someone disruptive cannot be tolerated during this public pandemic, which led the Department to determine that it was best to terminate her employment.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Coronavirus in Florida: Gov. Ron DeSantis disputes data manipulation