On Wednesday morning, Pinellas County commissioners voted unanimously to issue a "safer-at-home" order for all residents to help stop the spread of COVID-19, however it doesn't close non-essential businesses.
The “safer-at-home” resolution will begin at noon on Thursday, March 26, and will last for one week. The order allows the county's 1 million residents to still go outside for exercise and trips to the grocery store. It also allows residents to head out for medical needs and go to any jobs deemed “essential.”
Residents must still remain at least six-feet apart, and not gather in groups of more than 10.
Violators will face a second-degree misdemeanor punishable with up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman said the resolution isn't tough enough since it doesn’t force "non-essential businesses" to actually close.
"This safer-at-home policy does not close any business, because every business in the county can make a claim that they will maintain CDC guidelines," Kriseman said. "As many officers as the sheriff has … as I have there are not enough to make sure they are following CDC guidelines."
The vote comes as other Tampa Bay communities are considering similar measures, including Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who said on Tuesday that she's likely to issue a stay-at-home order Wednesday afternoon.
The order identifies over three dozen jobs considered “essential,” including healthcare workers, news media, gas station attendants, workers providing COVID-19 testing, pharmacy employees, police and fire, farmworkers, utility workers and manufacturing employees.
According to the order, businesses must close "if they do not provide essential services as outlined in this Resolution or cannot maintain CDC social distancing guidelines." In other words, non-essential businesses can remain open, ass long as they follow CDC guidelines.
Commissioner Ken Welch called the exception an “Achilles heel."
This is a developing story.
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This article appears in Mar 19-26, 2020.