Roundup: Five quotes of the week, catch up with the social buzz
ICYMI, here are some of the best quotes from this week’s news stories about the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and efforts to control it in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.
Rick Homans
“This survey shows, very clearly, that residents of Tampa Bay have a high level of concern about the health and economic impacts of Covid-19 and they believe we have a long way to go before we put this crisis in the rear-view mirror.” — Rick Homans, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership, which launched a series of data reports tracking the local economic impact of Covid-19.
Michael Grego
“I think they look forward to the day we go back to a level of normalcy. But I also want to work to build a level of trust so that when those students come back, they’re coming back to a very safe environment.” — Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Michael Grego at a briefing about online education with Gov. Ron DeSantis, after DeSantis asked Grego if parents are looking forward to their children going back to school.
“We have faced challenges before. We have faced hurricanes. We faced the recession from 2008 to 2010. We faced the Medicaid program in the state that made reductions. But throughout all of that BayCare has been able to be resilient and produced strong results.” — Tommy Inzina, BayCare Health System CEO, on the system’s preparedness for a surge in patients.
Mayor Rick Kriseman, Facebook Live, April 7
“Overall St. Pete you are doing a fantastic job. I believe the actions that we have taken — and assuming we continue to aggressively take them — will ultimately flatten the curve sooner or to a greater degree than first anticipated.” — St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman at an April 8 news briefing.
“We currently do not have any animals showing any signs of respiratory illness.” — Sandra Torres, a spokeswoman for ZooTampa, responding to a report that the virus that causes Covid-19 in humans had infected a tiger at a zoo in New York.
Here’s some of the most recent social media buzz from Tampa-St. Pete community leaders and organizations.
REMINDER: Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program is OPEN. This program will be available through May 8. 👉For more info, visit: https://t.co/jMVAadDucl pic.twitter.com/Y77EA83AS2
— St. Petersburg, FL (@StPeteFL) April 9, 2020
Thank you Vinik Family Foundation!
“Our small business ecosystem is at the heart of who we are as Tampa Bay and will be the heart of our economic recovery,” said Jeff and Penny Vinik. https://t.co/HJwU9Wof5K— Jessica Eilerman (@JessEilerman) April 10, 2020
Happy Friday morning, USFSP. We may be standing in different places today, but we are one in purpose. pic.twitter.com/l4ARwNFdn5
— Martin Tadlock (@martintadlock) April 10, 2020
We’ve reached $346,000 of our $400,000 goal! Help us get there and support @FeedingTampaBay. https://t.co/nmdfDvrsIn pic.twitter.com/KHNVVNtRyS
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 11, 2020
