County officials urge residents, business owners to follow the rules to prevent Covid numbers from going higher

With Covid-19 cases continuing to tick upward, Pinellas County Administrator Barry A. Burton and Sheriff Bob Gualtieri called on residents and business owners – especially those who operate bars and restaurants – to “double down” on their efforts to practice social distancing and mask wearing to keep the community safe.

“Our ordinance hasn’t changed,” Burton said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. “What has changed is that we’ve taken our foot off the gas. We get that everyone’s tired and wanting to go back to normal, and we’ve come a long way, but we have a little ways to go.”

According to Burton, on Oct. 30, Pinellas County had 74 new Covid cases. On Nov. 29, that number jumped to 234 cases, with the seven-day average now at 231 cases. During that same time period, the percent positivity rate has jumped from 4.2 percent to 8.4 percent. 

“Our numbers are too high and we need to do what we can to try to minimize community spread of Covid,” Burton said.

During the weekend of Nov. 13 – 15, Gualtieri dispatched his deputies to more than 2,800 bars and restaurants across the county in an attempt to understand why the numbers are going up. After analyzing the data from that three-day period, he determined that 40 percent of bars and eight percent of restaurants were not in compliance with the county ordinance, with the predominant issues being staff and patrons not wearing masks or practicing social distancing. In a series of photographs,Gualtieri showed examples of bars and restaurants who were in violation of the regulations, pointing out people from different groups sitting too close together, congregating on dance floors and going without masks. 

One of the reasons that people might not be complying with the rules, Gualtieri said, is because of confusion between county and state orders.

“There are a lot of people who are under the impression the county ordinance doesn’t have teeth because Governor DeSantis issued an order saying that fines and penalties are suspended,” he said. “But there’s another part of the sentence. Fines and penalties are suspended for individuals. Fines and penalties are not suspended for businesses.“

So far, Pinellas County has not issued any fines to businesses who are not compliant, and while Gualtieri said he doesn’t want to go that route, he will if he has to. Instead, he called on business owners, particular bar and restaurant owners, to step up. 

Deputies will be going to all Pinellas County bars and restaurants in the next day to distribute signs that owners can place in their windows to remind people of their obligations, and Gualtieri said they plan to follow up to make sure these establishments are complying with the county ordinance. Conversations will be had with those who aren’t, and should violations continue, business owners could face fines and legal action. However, he reiterated his preference for businesses to take responsibility for following the rules. 

“If we find businesses who aren’t trying to do the right thing and are just ignoring the rules, they’re going to force us, and if they force us to do it we’ll start taking action because we can’t keep going down this path,” he said. “Don’t put us in a situation where we have to consider additional action.”

The Florida Department of Health reported another 364 cases of Covid-19 Thursday and four new deaths, bringing the county’s total to 915 since the start of the pandemic. As of Wednesday, the county now has 33,857 positive cases and a rolling two-week positivity rate of 5.72 percent, with a 6.19 percent positivity rate reported Wednesday. The St. Pete Catalyst has a daily update on total cases by ZIP code, which you can find here.