Like Trump, Lies and Deceptions: Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis Fires Florida COVID-19 Data Researcher, Suppressing Death and Infection Data
May 19th 2020
Ron DeSantis (Gage Skidmore)
By Pakalolo (of the Daily Kos community)
This is what Republican governance looks like. Vote them all out!
"I think it’s been a team effort here in Florida, we’ve got great public health people here at the county level, we've worked very good with the local governments as well, and we still have more work to do. But clearly, we have done way better than all the experts said we would and I think we did it by a data-driven approach." Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida
As Ron DeSantis reopens Florida, an inevitable spike in coronavirus cases will occur, according to scientists. Even the epicenter of the virus has begun to reopen in South Florida.
I am an introvert, so staying at home is bliss for me. I do miss the beach, but the sunlight is getting more intense as we near summer, so at this point, I would not go now. But, I do venture out to the grocery store and hardware stores with a mask to protect myself and others.
The vast majority of us do take precautions, but for some reason, DeSantis gets kudos from media for “flattening the curve” when in reality, it is Florida’s citizens who have been self-isolating long before DeSantis lifted a finger to stop the contagions spread who should get the credit.
Dr. Birx has praised the Florida Public Health website as an example for other states to follow. But what DeSantis did to data on that COVID website would never be tolerated for a hurricane approaching the state.
Let’s be honest with each other we are opening for economic reasons and not because we are now safe. DeSantis is a Republican, and like Trump, he lies to us regularly but is now lying to us with alternative facts on the actual story on the ground.
Allessandro Marrazi Sasson writes in Florida Today:
The dashboard has been a one-stop shop for researchers, the media and the public to access and download tables of COVID-19 cases, testing and death data to analyze freely. It had been widely hailed as a shining example of transparency and accessibility.
But over the last few weeks it had "crashed" and gone offline; data has gone missing without explanation and access to the underlying data sheets has become increasingly difficult.
The site was created by a team of Florida Department of Health data scientists and public health officers headed by Rebekah Jones. She announced last week her removal as of May 5 in a heartfelt farewell note emailed to researchers and other members of the public who had signed up to receive updates on the data portal.
Citing "reasons beyond my division’s control," Jones said her office is no longer managing the dashboard, is no longer involved in publication, fixing errors or answering questions "in any shape or form."
She warned that she does not know what the new team's intentions are for data access, including "what data they are now restricting."
But researchers who have relied on unobstructed access to underlying raw data said they interpret Jones' removal as a clear indication of government censorship of science.
"We would not accept this lack of transparency for any other natural disaster, so why are we willing to accept it here?" said Jennifer Larsen, a researcher at the University of Central Florida's LabX.
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Posted with permission