For months, Rebekah Jones was hailed as a stunningly brave whistleblower for exposing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ efforts to cover up the state’s COVID19 case and death data.
The thing was, Rebekah Jones was lying. But people who pointed that out — and had the evidence to back it up — were quickly and reliably labeled sexist misogynist DeathSantis apologists with an anti-truth agenda.
And then National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke put together a case against Jones that not even the most powerful elements of the MSM could ignore any longer. Now, the Rebekah-Jones-is-a-COVID19-heroine narrative just keeps crumbling:
The dam has now broken:
“Former colleagues of fired dashboard designer Rebekah Jones and public health experts tell CBS12 News her claims that she was directed to delete COVID cases and deaths from the state’s data are unsupported by the evidence.” https://t.co/UeGpWZru56
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 26, 2021
More from Jones’s former colleagues:
“The staffer adds that [ ] Jones did not have access to the state data system or have the privileges to alter raw COVID data”
“‘[DOH employees] were literally handing her data to display,’ the staffer said.”https://t.co/UeGpWZru56
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 26, 2021
Scientists speaking up, too:
“‘There’s no way that deaths are missing somehow,’ said Natalie Dean, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Florida. Dean said Florida’s COVID data ‘doesn’t stand out’ compared to other states.” https://t.co/UeGpWZru56
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 26, 2021
This is the epidemiologist whom Jones has ruthlessly libeled:
“Dr. Shamarial Roberson said geographic information systems (GIS) professionals at the Department of Health typically did not have access to the state system that housed the raw data.”https://t.co/UeGpWZru56
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 26, 2021
Again—the entire thing is Jones:
“One medical data expert consulted by CBS12 News believes much of the mistrust surrounding Florida’s coronavirus numbers can be traced directly back to Jones’ repeated allegations that the state’s data can’t be trusted.” https://t.co/UeGpWZru56
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) May 26, 2021
This couldn’t be happening to a nicer gal.
Finally
— artistic license (@art_interesting) May 26, 2021
And mad props to Cooke and National Review for being so dogged in their pursuit of the truth.
And it was NATIONAL REVIEW who did this because no one else wanted to know the truth. https://t.co/y6V5iFyzbH
— Nathan Wurtzel (@NathanWurtzel) May 26, 2021
well done, Charles!
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 26, 2021
Editor’s note: The headline of this post originally quoted Cooke as saying “The dam is breaking.” We’ve amended it with the correct quote, “The dam has now broken.”
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