A former Florida official has launched her own coronavirus cases dashboard, which indicates there have been more cases in the Sunshine State than the official tally.
According to Florida Today, data scientist Rebekah Jones runs floridacovidaction.com. She was working on the state's virus efforts with the Florida Department of Health until she was let go — which she claimed happened after she refused to "manipulate" the data to show fewer cases in some counties.
With private funding, Jones launched her own tracking site that shows 83,720 coronavirus cases — far more than the public total of 75,568. There is also a discrepancy in the death count, with Jones's dashboard showing 3,022 and the state displaying 2,931.
The testing numbers also differ. Florida claims that more than 1.4 million tests have been conducted, but Jones put the figure at less than 1.1 million.
"We count everyone who has had a confirmed-positive COVID-19 lab result, including antibody testing," Jones' team said in a press release, Florida Today noted. "Any cumulative count of positive people in Florida should include any person who has a confirmed-positive lab result, whether tested while symptomatic or not. This helps us better track the disease burden on healthcare systems and its spread in the community."
According to CNN, Florida officials would not comment on the story.
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