Whistleblower Status Granted To COVID-19 Data Scientist: Report

TALLAHASSEE, FL — The data scientist who built Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard and was fired by Gov. Ron DeSantis has been granted whistleblower status by the state.

In early May 2020, Rebekah Jones said she was fired for not manipulating coronavirus data to support the state’s reopening following the pandemic shutdown. She went on to create her own dashboard, Florida COVID Action, and has been an outspoken critic of DeSantis and his administration.

DeSantis has said she was fired from her position for “insubordination.”

The Office of Inspector General told Jones and her attorneys Friday that she qualifies as a whistleblower in Florida, the Miami Herald reported.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents raided her Tallahassee home in early December, seizing her computer and smartphone. They also pointed guns at Jones and her children, she tweeted.

She was later arrested in January and faces a third-degree felony charge for using the state messaging system to encourage people to “speak up,” the Herald reported.

Her whistleblower status provides some legal protections to Jones in Florida. At the end of the ongoing investigation, because she’s now considered a whistleblower, she could be offered compensation or the position she was removed from, reports said.

Taryn Fenske, the communications director for DeSantis’ administration, told the Herald that Jones’ “whistleblower status doesn’t substantiate any claims. It simply provides confidentiality and means someone made a complaint.”