Jones managed the dashboard for two months. On May 4, 2020, a Miami Herald reporter made an inquiry to DOH about evidence they said could indicate an earlier community spread from the published data, which was handled by Jones's team. The Tampa Bay Times and The Palm Beach Post reported a data field was removed for less than 24 hours; Shamarial Roberson, Deputy Secretary of Health, said the field was unimportant and indicated when a patient believed their symptoms began. A spokesperson for the Department of Health responded that the dates Jones referred to corresponded to dates when individuals may have come into contact with the virus, rather than dates when they tested positive. Carina Blackmore, the director for the division, instructed Jones to disable exporting data files to ensure the data matched what was in their PDF counterpart. Jones was adamant that broad access to complete raw data was crucial for the academic community. When instructed by her superiors to restrict access to any of the data, she objected, claiming it was unethical. In emails she said, "This is the wrong call," and "I'm not pulling our primary resource for coronavirus data because he (Pritchard) wants to stick it to journalists." Blackmore said the temporary removal was due to concerns about privacy and potential misunderstanding and misuse of the field. The following day, Jones was removed from the COVID-19 dashboard team. She threatened to quit and went on leave.
