Context: One year ago, @nataliexdean asked Rebekah Jones a pointed question, and Jones blasted to her followers she was being “harassed.” One pointed question was all it took for Jones to smear a scientist and a phenomenal communicator during the pandemic.
https://twitter.com/nataliexdean/status/1357011532106792960
Jones was just wrong about the science: antibodies indicate *past* infection, and someone with a false negative won't engage in risky behavior like someone with a false *positive* might, but Jones’ smear of Dean is what makes it reprehensible.
https://twitter.com/nataliexdean/status/1285038470692511744
An earlier thread discusses myths about Florida “cooking the books,” and Rebekah Jones was—by far—the most commonly-cited response I’ve not already addressed in that thread. People claim that DeSantis baddies asked Jones to delete deaths or something.
https://twitter.com/BadCOVID19Takes/status/1378045834676277252
But when Jones was fired, she did not allege “tampering with data on deaths…hospitalizations…new confirmed cases, or overall testing rates.” It was an issue of presentation, and what Florida DOH called “insubordination” in talking to the press. abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSto…
More recently, Jones said that she *never* claimed to have been asked to delete COVID date.
Many people believe Jones accused the state of something that she herself does not claim—not when she’s trying to be precise, at least.
https://archive.is/2021.05.21-024807/https://twitter.com/georebekah/status/1395547667065868290?s=21
Many people believe Jones accused the state of something that she herself does not claim—not when she’s trying to be precise, at least.
This makes sense. Most Florida DOH staff, including Jones’ former supervisors, are career staff—not appointees. These professionals aren’t “in on it.” Florida’s overall death numbers confirm they aren’t undercounting Covid deaths more than other states.
The best summary of Rebekah Jones’ schtick remains this National Review post. Yes, I know it’s the National Review, where most writers probably love DeSantis, but there’s not a significant thing wrong with this story. nationalreview.com/2021/05/rebeka…
It’s got receipts; Jones exaggerated her role, attacked people on flimsy pretexts, and hoovered up hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors who wanted to hear a particular story she let them hear.
https://twitter.com/gcaw/status/1392906131723411459
It should not be a partisan issue. I'm not a fan of DeSantis, but I'm even less a fan of misinformation about the virus. Spreading anti-DeSantis conspiracy theories makes it harder to dissuade people from pro-disease conspiracy theories. I believe that. politico.com/states/florida…
Jones wrote a rebuttal to the NR piece (it’s no longer free on her $$$ substack). NR hardly mentions Prof. Dean, yet Jones rebuttal included this nasty smear. Again, Dean didn’t say this at all. If anyone’s juvenile and resentful here, it’s not Prof. Dean. 
Jones was permanently suspended from Twitter about 45 days ago. I've seen conspiracy theories about this too, but it was most likely for buying followers and perhaps for evading a temporary suspension with alternate accounts.
https://twitter.com/jayobtv/status/1402104255088050181
BTW, I’ve never had a conversation with @nataliexdean. While I’ve sometimes linked to her helpful tweets, she had no role in this thread. I'll delete it if she asks.
I just keep track of a lot of anniversaries, and one year ago today, I learned who Rebekah Jones is.
I just keep track of a lot of anniversaries, and one year ago today, I learned who Rebekah Jones is.
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