Remember Rebekah Jones, the fired GIS data scientist? Well, it seems she is following her passion to share public data and has deployed a new dashboard that shares coronavirus, health-related data from the state of Florida. Simply put… enter FloridaCOVIDAction.com.
Rebekah Jones is the architect of Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard (Image: Florida Today)
This from the Palm Beach Post…
Florida’s former top coronavirus data scientist has launched a website showing far more COVID-19 information than she said the state allowed her to report as an employee, including statistics contradicting Florida’s official coronavirus numbers and the push to reopen the state.
Former Health Department geographic data scientist Rebekah Jones has created FloridaCOVIDAction.com, which asserts that the state’s widely read public-facing dashboard under reports how many people have tested positive for the pathogen. Florida also overcounts how many have been tested, Jones said, to the benefit of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to reopen the state after two months of quarantine.
Florida’s Community Coronavirus Dashboard
Ms. Jones has extensive experience building and deploying public facing web services, particularly within the state of Florida. From her bio… “I’ve led or been a part of response efforts to Hurricanes Isaac (2012), Sandy (2012), Hurricane Hermine (2016), Hurricane Matthew (2018), and Hurricane Dorian (2019).” She is perhaps best known recently for her role as Geospatial Systems and Science Manager at the Florida Department of Health where she built the COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard,
Why did she build it?
Her response in this article from TampaBay8:
“‘I’ve built a new one because there were a lot of things I always wanted to see in that dashboard and was told no. Two of the most critical elements of that being that people need to not just say, Hey, here’s this really scary, terrifying information. Have fun with it. That’s step one. Step two should be here’s how you can get tested,” said Jones.
See Also:
Florida DOH GIS Data Manager Fired for Refusing to Alter and Censor COVID-19 Public Data
‘All I’ve ever wanted was to help people,’ former COVID-19 dashboard manager says https://t.co/CaoY3li0bE via @10TampaBay
— Rebekah Jones aka #Insubordinate #scientist (@GeoRebekah) June 12, 2020