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Chamber CEO: How will businesses deal with a second wave of COVID-19?

Bill DeYoung

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The St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce presents: Coronavirus Impact Insights. Click the play arrow above to watch the full video.

On this episode Chris Steinocher, CEO of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce, talks with his co-host, St. Pete Catalyst publisher Joe Hamilton, about the ways in which St. Pete businesses are affected by COVID-19, and how they can go about easing into a future that won’t look so familiar.

It’s the 65th installment of the virtual interview series, which started as the initial wave of COVID-19 began to spread across the country. With the second wave most likely on the horizon, Steinocher and Hamilton agree that the crisis is ongoing – “something that we’re going to have to continue to live with,” as Steinocher says.

To illustrate, the Chamber CEO displays today’s Florida Chamber Scorecard for Pinellas County – which shows coronavirus cases continuing to rise at an alarming rate.

The numbers have spiked since Phase Two of Florida’s re-opening began around Memorial Day weekend. This, Steinocher says, is cause for great concern – and for action.

On the plus side, the number of available hospital beds, ICU beds and ventilators are good in Pinellas County, which means that our health care system is ready, should COVID’s reach expand even further.

People are tired and frustrated with lockdown, Hamilton observes, and since the first wave of government financial assistance has passed, mounting bills and other debts are adding to communal stress.

For St. Pete’s business community, Steinocher calls for increased dialogue about the methods people are adopting – what’s working and what isn’t – and a frank discussion on “How is the world going to be different now?”

The St. Pete Chamber will conduct a virtual Town Hall, “The Return to Office,” Thursday (June 18) from 1 to 2 p.m. Register for the Zoom Webinar here.

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