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On March 12, 2020, after ~2 months of pleading with the state, I finally received the go-ahead to start reporting data to the public about #COVID19 in #Florida
I plan to continue tracking the state's data through March 12, 2021 - an entire year of my life dedicated to the cause
I plan to continue tracking the state's data through March 12, 2021 - an entire year of my life dedicated to the cause
Surgeon General Scott Rivkees praised my work with the state for @SUAlums article in March: https://bit.ly/2Ohpz2v
And other state officials did the same in April: https://bit.ly/3jpXEcb
It's been an exhausting roller-coaster of a ride, most of which became quite public.
And other state officials did the same in April: https://bit.ly/3jpXEcb
It's been an exhausting roller-coaster of a ride, most of which became quite public.
Even though my parents lost their house on Easter 2020, I never missed a beat. I dedicated myself to this mission, and gave my entire heart and soul to it.
Until I was asked to use the same data systems I designed to inform the public to mislead them. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2020/05/18/censorship-covid-19-data-researcher-removed-florida-moves-re-open-state/5212398002/
Until I was asked to use the same data systems I designed to inform the public to mislead them. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2020/05/18/censorship-covid-19-data-researcher-removed-florida-moves-re-open-state/5212398002/
I didn't want to be a public person. I refused to speak to the press. I literally hid for days. Until @GovRonDeSantis
decided to launch me into the news cycle, defame me, and attempt to strip all of my hard work and experience from me.
There was no reason to hide after that
decided to launch me into the news cycle, defame me, and attempt to strip all of my hard work and experience from me.
There was no reason to hide after that
So I spoke out, reluctantly, shyly, and tried to refocus the conversation to what mattered: the data, and the misleading ways it was being changed that would put the safety of millions of people at risk. https://twitter.com/CuomoPrimeTime/status/1264025676870541312
I tried to go back to being a private person after that, but the damage done to my reputation - which had been one of being a leader in my area of expertise and rising star in my field - was trashed. A UK tabloid published a smear piece that was shared by the fringe-right in USA
And as the very trends we warned the state about began to manifest after @GovRonDeSantis prematurely pushed Florida into Phases I and II in as many weeks, the people had nowhere to go for reliable data.
Whether I intended that to happen or not, I felt responsible to help.
Whether I intended that to happen or not, I felt responsible to help.
So I launched http://www.FloridaCovidAction.com on June 12, just 3 months after my first dashboard was published. I didn't know if anyone would notice or care.
Up to this point, I wasn't sure how I was going to pay my bills. The little GoFundMe my sister started had all of $5,000 in it
Up to this point, I wasn't sure how I was going to pay my bills. The little GoFundMe my sister started had all of $5,000 in it
When I woke up the day after the launch, thousands of people had donated more than $50,000. I almost fainted. I could finally pay my bills *on time* and do work that really mattered.
https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/newswire/2020/06/12/fired-scientist-rebekah-jones-builds-coronavirus-dashboard-to-rival-floridarsquos/3174482001/
https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/newswire/2020/06/12/fired-scientist-rebekah-jones-builds-coronavirus-dashboard-to-rival-floridarsquos/3174482001/
So I kept working on it. I kept building the project out, and even started new projects along the way, including @thecovidmonitor which tracks #COVID19 cases in K12 schools across the country.
I never missed a day of work.
Until December 7. https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/07/us/florida-search-warrant-raid-rebekah-jones-invs/index.html
I never missed a day of work.
Until December 7. https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/07/us/florida-search-warrant-raid-rebekah-jones-invs/index.html
Determined not to be brought down by an autocratic governor hell-bent on silencing his most ardent critics, I spoke out that very night, published an op-ed in the days following, and got back to work. https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article247897180.html
I sued the state police for the raid on my home, for pointing guns at my family, for the vile attempt at intimidation. That only made them angrier. The day after a judge put them on notice, they issued a warrant for my arrest. Sick with COVID-19, they forced my return to Florida.
This journey is nowhere near over for me, and the COVID19 story that will last generations will not be over anytime soon, either. I committed myself to a full year of this work, so as March 12 nears and I begin scaling back my projects, I'll begin looking to a future "post-COVID"
I plan to tell this story in full, with the same pain-staking attention to detail I brought to all of my academic and professional projects.
While I'm still writing, and the story continues to evolve, I do hope to be finished in the coming months.
While I'm still writing, and the story continues to evolve, I do hope to be finished in the coming months.
I hope the lessons from Florida's tragic (and avoidable) COVID-19 catastrophe can be learned, and my advise heeded to those who might find themselves in impossible positions as I did. I hope my book encourages them to be #insubordinate for truth and science.
