If you think that your covid-19 shut-in has been a mess, there’s a woman in Florida who can likely one-up you.
Rebekah Jones worked for the Florida Department of Health as a data curator running the state’s Covid-19 reporting dashboard. Her job, until May, was to work with a team of data scientists and health care professionals to curate and report data. From Jones’ perspective, she was let go after whistleblowing issues with the state’s dashboard. Jones claimed that she was being pushed by officials at the Florida Department of Health to alter data for the purpose of gaining public favor of reopening the state and did not comply, leading to her firing.
The Official Take
Officials from the Florida Department of Health have denied those claims stating that the reason for her firing was due to repeat insubordination and making “unilateral decisions to modify the department’s COVID-19 dashboard without input or approval from the epidemiological team or her supervisors.” It is also believed that her firing was partially due to Jones being charged with stalking an ex-boyfriend and posting adult photos of him online, which is a criminal misdemeanor. She hasn’t yet been convicted of that charge, and the case is still pending.
Jones' Take on her Previous Incident
Jones claims that the pictures she posted were to a group of women who have been in abusive relationships and posting them were in relation to that. Since being let go by the Florida Department of Health, Jones has created and run her own COVID-19 tracking dashboard that reports on Covid-19 cases, outbreaks, and deaths in Florida.
On the morning of Monday, December 7th, Jones posted a video to Twitter of Police entering her house to serve a warrant which allowed them to take her computer and phone. In the tweet, Jones claims that the police who entered her home “pointed a gun in [her] face” as well as in her children’s faces.
The video posted shows at least four officers entering Jones’ home, ordering her outside, and ordering her husband to come downstairs. In the video, Jones can be heard saying, “You just pointed a gun at my children.”
The Florida Police
A spokeswoman for the police said in a statement that the police entered Mrs. Jones's residency with a warrant related to a security breach complaint filed by the Florida Department of Health. Police also claim “no guns were ever pointed at anyone in the home”, according to the statement made by Gretl Plessinger. The warrant was served after receiving a complaint from the
Department of Health that there was an unauthorized access to its emergency alert system.
“Ms. Jones refused to come to the door for 20 minutes and hung-up on agents. After several attempts and verbal notifications that law enforcement officers were there to serve a legal search warrant, Ms. Jones eventually came to the door and allowed agents to enter.” - Gretl Plessinger, Police Spokeswoman
Plessinger also stated, “Agents believe someone at the residence on Centerville Court illegally accessed the system.”
Jones claims that the referenced message was not sent by her, and “is not the way [she] talks.” In a later tweet, Jones states that she will continue posting updates after acquiring a new computer.
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