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Florida, Georgia Accused of Manipulating Data on Coronavirus Outbreaks

HeadlineMay 20, 2020

In Florida, the lead software developer for the state’s coronavirus data portal says she was forced to resign after she refused to censor information about Florida’s outbreak. Rebekah Jones told CBS 12 News she was pushed out of her job as architect of Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard after she declined to “manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen.”

In Georgia, Republican Governor Brian Kemp was forced to apologize after a state website falsely showed a downward trend in COVID-19 infections. A bar chart published by the Georgia Department of Public Health had dates along the x-axis reordered, creating the illusion of a decline in cases. Democratic state representative and microbiologist Jasmine Clark told reporters, “Sadly it feels like there’s been an attempt to make the data fit the narrative, and that’s not how data works.”

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