Tag: florida

Controversial COVID-19 Data Scientist’s Home Raided, Guns at Pointed Family, Computers Seized

Earlier this year in May, Rebekah Jones, the data scientist working for Florida, who put together that state’s COVID-19 database, made national headlines when she was fired by the state over a disagreement in reporting the numbers. Jones says she was fired for refusing to manipulate data that showed a higher number of deaths while the state claimed she was fired for insubordination. Fast-forward to this month, and what started as a firing ended with armed agents of the state allegedly pointing guns at an entire family, during a raid on their Florida home.

After she was fired in May, Jones made the following claim:

I was asked by DOH leadership to manually change numbers. This was a week before the reopening plan officially kicked off into phase one. I was asked to do the analysis and present the findings about which counties met the criteria for reopening. The criteria followed more or less the White House panel’s recommendations, but our epidemiology team also contributed to that as well. As soon as I presented the results, they were essentially the opposite of what they had anticipated. The whole day while we’re having this kind of back and forth changing this, not showing that, the plan was being printed and stapled right in front of me. So it was very clear at that point that the science behind the supposedly science-driven plan didn’t matter because the plan was already made.

After she was fired, Jones continued her work reporting the numbers by starting the website Florida COVID Action, which is a dashboard of Florida COVID information, like the one she used to run for the state. Since then, she’s been running this site without much resistance from the state — until now.

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750 million genetically engineered mosquitoes approved for release in Florida Keys

Approved by the Environment Protection Agency in May, the pilot project is designed to test if a genetically modified mosquito is a viable alternative to spraying insecticides to control the Aedes aegypti. It’s a species of mosquito that carries several deadly diseases, such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever.The mosquito, named OX5034, has been altered to produce female offspring that die in the larval stage, well before hatching and growing large enough to bite and spread disease. Only the female mosquito bites for blood, which she needs to mature her eggs. Males feed only on nectar, and are thus not a carrier for disease.The mosquito also won federal approval to be released into Harris County, Texas, beginning in 2021, according to Oxitec, the US-owned, British-based company that developed the genetically modified organism (GMO).The Environmental Protection Agency granted Oxitec’s request after years of investigating the impact of the genetically altered mosquito on human and environmental health.

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Deaths incorrectly attributed to COVID-19 in Palm Beach County

A 60-year-old man who died from a gun shot wound to the head.

A 90-year-old man who fell and died from complications of a hip fracture.

A 77-year-old woman who died of Parkinson’s disease.

These are some of the deaths in Palm Beach County recently, and incorrectly, attributed to COVID-19 in medical examiner records.

The CBS12 News I-Team uncovered several examples in Medical Examiner reports of people counted as a COVID death who did not die of COVID.

We requested a list of all COVID-19 deaths in Palm Beach County from the Medical Examiner’s office and received a spread sheet of 581 cases.

Each person on the spreadsheet is someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

In each case line, the person’s cause of death and contributing causes of death are listed, if there are any.

The I-Team found eight cases in which a person was counted as a COVID death, but did not have COVID listed as a cause of contributing cause of death.

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Florida 33 Labs Busted For Cooking the Books: Florida COVID-19 Positive Numbers Fact Check

Trust is the one thing required in getting people to follow COVID-19 safety guidelines. But, several incidents that happened in Florida over the past few weeks have raised questions about the authenticity of COVID positive numbers given by the laboratories. According to netizens, Florida COVID numbers are wrong. Let’s do a fact check.

The alarming figure of more than 15,000 people testing positive on one day in Florida has disturbed everyone. The state made international headlines for the record-breaking number of positive cases in a day.

People are questioning if the labs are providing accurate details or tampered results. Read as we break down the news of 33 Labs Busted in Florida for cooking the books.

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Florida hospital admits its COVID positivity rate is 10x lower than first reported

AFlorida hospital handling COVID-19 tests confirmed to media this week that its near-100% positivity rate was overstated by a factor of 10, raising already-heightened concerns that numerous labs are over reporting the number of confirmed infections.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management posts a daily coronavirus update on its website, which features a list of the positivity rates of every COVID testing facility in the state. Hundreds of labs and hospitals throughout Florida are regularly testing state residents for the coronavirus. 

In recent days, numerous facilities have begun reporting 100% positivity rates, figures significantly higher than the statewide average of around 15%. Many of those labs claim to have tested only one patient, though others with 100% rates report testing dozens and sometimes hundreds of patients. 

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