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from the who-feels-safe-in-Florida-now? dept.
Armed police raid home of Florida scientist fired over Covid-19 data
Rebekah Jones, the Florida data scientist embroiled in a dispute with the state's Republican governor over the handling of coronavirus figures, had her home raided on Monday by armed police who confiscated her computers.
In a stream of posts on Twitter, Jones posted a video of the raid that showed state police carrying handguns escorting her out of her Tallahassee home. She can be heard saying: "He just pointed a gun at my children," with her husband and two children apparently upstairs at the time.
Jones claimed in her tweets that the raid was the work of Ron DeSantis, the governor with whom she has clashed repeatedly since she was fired by the state's department of health in May in a row over Covid-19 data. She compared the incident to sending "the gestapo", adding: "This is what happens to scientists who do their job honestly. This is what happens to people who speak truth to power."
The Florida department of law enforcement confirmed they had entered Jones's house on a search warrant. But in a statement the department said the action was related to a recent computer hack of the health department website, in which emergency response coordinators were sent an unauthorised message.
Also at CNN, The Verge, and The Hill.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @05:45AM (4 children)
If you want to rely on individual responsibility instead of regulation, individuals need to be aware of and accept the facts. If you want people to voluntarily wear masks instead of relying on mask mandates, people must accept that masks are a useful and necessary measure to limit the spread of COVID-19. Misinformation undermines these efforts, so you end up with the regulation that you don't want.
The CDC data are incomplete, so the excess death rate is actually higher than 11%. It takes several weeks before the CDC has a complete count of how many people died in a particular week and the causes of death. COVID-19 death rates are at their highest ever in the US, but this isn't yet reflected in the CDC's data. In the first wave of the pandemic, the excess death rate was 42%. There was a second peak during the summer. When final data are in for the past few weeks, we'll likely see that the excess death rate was actually higher than 42% at this point in time. Were it not for the lockdowns in the spring, the excess death rate would likely have peaked well above 42%. At least one study suggests that the excess death rate in New York City this spring was similar to the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic [jamanetwork.com]. It arises from the combination of deaths directly from COVID-19 and from people who aren't receiving care for other treatable conditions because hospitals are overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @06:32AM (2 children)
"In the Research Letter, “Comparison of Estimated Excess Deaths in New York City During the COVID-19 and 1918 Influenza Pandemics,”1 published on August 13, 2020, in the Figure, A and B, the y-axis label should have been all-cause deaths per 100 000 person-months, not person-weeks. This article has been corrected."
Some quality research you are demonstrating here, indeed.
Now to the content:
"Deaths, all cause (New York City, 1918 H1N1 peak and corresponding periods, 1914-1917)"
"Deaths, all cause (New York City, COVID-19 outbreak and corresponding periods, 2017-2019)"
Why not compare both to 2018 flu peak? To peaks of other flu pandemics in the intervening century?
Comparing peaks to troughs is a well known method of lying with facts and production of FUD. But it is not science, it is a mockery of it.
The more such "research" is produced and promoted, the more suspicion will arise. Even legitimate studies done in good faith, will increasingly be met as more of the same. The people doing these jobs for a quick buck, are busy digging the grave for the whole scientific establishment; once "scientist" and "conman" become total synonyms, what will be the Plan B?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @08:15AM (1 child)
You compleat idiot!
Covid-19 has not yet peaked. It will get much worse, thanks to an incompetent Republican Administration. Many more will die, while you are trying to fudge figures, and lie. Perhaps you could get Covid-19, and die, as a service to your country? We would all appreciate it.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @01:10PM
France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, and many other places are also seeing a resurgence. Do you also want to attribute juvenile political explanations to all of them too? And your political explanation doesn't even make any sense. In the US how areas handle the virus is almost exclusively a state responsibility. Federal response mostly comes down to providing funding + closing the borders. Both of which we did.
The reality is that we're going through a plague and, for all of our technological bravado, don't really have any especially amazing solutions that were not previously available. It basically comes down to waiting it out. Oh right, we have vaccinations - brewed up in less than a year, using completely untested technology, for a coronavirus (of which there have been numerous attempts but 0 successful vaccines created), under a major commercial motivation with 0 consequences for side effects - literally, governments are agreeing to immunity waivers. Well my friend, you first. If both you and the virus are alive and well in a year or two, I'll happily join in!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday December 09 2020, @10:09PM
To paraphrase you, you're perfectly happy allowing people to decide for themselves, but only if you agree with their decisions.
Are you a parent?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.