Graphic courtesy of the City of St. Petersburg.On Monday, December 7, St. Petersburg launched “Race to Safe,” a campaign to keep St. Petersburg the safest city in Florida during the pandemic.
“We’re all working hard to Restart St. Pete and adapt to a new normal,” reads the campaign’s website, “but, in light of the continued community health risks, we’re shifting our focus to reducing Pinellas County’s COVID-19 positivity rate and being Florida’s most COVID-safe community.”
While the press conference was light on what measures the city will take to accomplish this goal, it focused on Pinellas County’s 5.8% two-week average COVID-19 positivity rate, which is tenth in the state, according to the city.
The campaign reiterated CDC guidelines and suggestions to help stop the spread, such as hand washing, face covering, social distancing, getting tested when symptomatic and limiting travel during the holidays.
“I really do believe that one of our advantages is that we’ve built and continue to build a culture of health through our Healthy St. Pete initiative and through health policies,” St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman said.
“Folks, we live in a big county. We cannot make the progress that we need to if we’re not working together,” Kriseman continued. “I am proud of where we are in comparison to other counties, but it’s not good enough. We must bring that number down.”
Kriseman emphasized that combating the surging pandemic should be a non-partisan issue.
“This isn’t about politics; this isn’t about posture,” Kriseman said. “This is about public health and saving lives.”
Find more at StPeteRaceToSafe.com.
