Former Florida Department of Health number-cruncher Rebekah Jones was hailed by the left for speaking truth to power about Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attempt to muffle the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Turns out, she was full of it.
On Thursday, NBC News noted that an inspector general’s investigation of Jones’ accusations about the Republican governor were “unfounded” and “unsubstantiated.”
NBC reported that the Florida DOH internal probe found “‘insufficient evidence’ or no evidence” to support Jones’ claims that she was asked to “falsify Covid positivity rates or misrepresent them on the state’s dashboard she helped design.”
The IG also “exonerated” DOH officials whom Jones accused of wrongdoing because they removed data from the website to ensure that individual health information of private citizens was not made public.
“The independent report paints a portrait of an employee who did not understand public health policy or the significance of epidemiological data, did not have high-level access to crucial information and leveled claims that made professional health officials ‘skeptical,’” NBC noted.
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The report itself noted that in her role with the DOH, Jones only could alter the “visualization” of the department’s online COVID dashboard, because she could not actually access the data it was based on. And even if she could do so, it would have been evident the data had been altered, to people both inside and outside the department, because it would have conflicted with other DOH reports.
The network pointed out that the IG did not investigate Jones’ claim that the DeSantis administration purposefully hid COVID death data.
Still, NBC’s report called that a “conspiracy theory” that Jones herself promoted and then recanted. Yet it thrives on liberal social media outlets, “despite the lack of evidence.”
“The Florida Democrat [Jared Moskowitz] who ran the state’s emergency response at the time bemoaned how Jones spread ‘disinformation.’ Independent epidemiologists say the claim has no basis,” said NBC.
Jones is now running for Congress against Fort Walton Beach Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz.
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She also remains under investigation for having illegally hacked the DOH database, which is another allegation on a lengthy list of criminal accusations.
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