The Pinellas County Homeless Leadership Alliance and Learning Empowered will open cold weather shelters beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1. The National Weather Service forecasts low temperatures of near 40 degrees in Pinellas County early Wednesday. Guests will be provided a warm, safe place to spend the night, a news release said. They will be advised if the shelters will be open additional nights. There are three shelters for adults in St. Petersburg — Northwest Presbyterian Church, 6330 54th Ave N.; Salvation Army, 1400 4th St. S., and The Turning Point, 1810 5th Ave. N. In Pinellas Park, there's a shelter at Boys and Girls Club of the Suncoast at 7790 61 St. N. There also are shelters in Tarpon Springs and Clearwater. Families with children will be placed in family shelters on cold nights, if space is available. Families should call 2-1-1, Tampa Bay Cares, Inc., for information about family shelters.
Forward Pinellas, the City of St. Petersburg and the Florida Department of Transportation will hold two online listening sessions for the Downtown St. Petersburg Mobility Study Thursday, Dec. 10 from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. At these sessions, both of which will contain the same information, the public will have the opportunity to provide their thoughts on how to create a downtown that is safe and accessible for everyone. To register for the morning session, click here. For the afternoon session, click here.
The Florida Department of Health reported three additional deaths due to Covid-19 in Pinellas County on Monday. The health department also reported 250 new cases of the virus in the county. Pinellas now has a cumulative total of 33,058 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 902 deaths since the outbreak began in March. The positivity rate, or percent of people who test positive for Covid after taking a test, was 8.41 percent on Sunday, the health department said. It's averaged 5.65 percent over the past two weeks. As of Monday afternoon, 200 people are hospitalized in Pinellas County with a primary diagnosis of Covid-19, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration said. About 29.6 percent of the hospital beds in Pinellas remain available, as do 15.8 percent of the adult intensive care unit beds.
Tampa General Hospital and USF Health have created a joint TGH-USF Health Office of Clinical Research to strengthen and expand current jointly conducted clinical trials. The new office allows the organizations to combine resources and work together more seamlessly to initiate, operate and coordinate clinical trials looking at new ways to prevent, detect and treat disease, a news release said. TGH and USF Health agreed to align administrative and clinical practices as part of an affiliation agreement signed earlier this year.
The St. Petersburg Pier is one of 20 nominees for the best new attraction in USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice awards. The Pier is competing against attractions across the country including the Houston Botanic Garden, the Classic Car Museum of St. Augustine and Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. People can vote once per day for their favorite attraction by clicking here. Voting ends Monday, Dec. 21 at noon with results being announced Thursday, Dec. 31.
The Gulfport Fine Arts Collective ArtJones will hold its December walking tour Saturday, Dec. 5 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2901 Beach Blvd. South. This year, in accordance with social distancing guidelines and Covid safety protocols, organizers have refashioned the previously indoor event into an outdoor walking tour through scenic downtown Gulfport with 12 fine artists spread across seven outdoor locations. Participating artists are ceramic artist and ArtJones founder Brenda McMahon, jewelers Doug D’Souza and Berkeley Grimball, painters Anna Ayres, Jila Davoodi, Jack Providenti, Monika Watson and Melissa Zodda, fused and stained glass artist Diane Bragg, photographer Larry Busby and fiber artists Alice Pickett Lewis and Elizabeth Neily.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Maja Gift to the Board of Pharmacy. Gift is the director of pharmacy services at Tampa General Hospital. DeSantis also named Seema Weinstein to the Board of Psychology.Weinstein is a psychology and neuropsychology manager at Tampa General Hospital. She is a member of the American Psychological Association and currently serves on the Hillsborough County Behavioral Health Advisory Board. The appointments are subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.
Sprouts Farmers Market will open a store in Westchase on Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 7 a.m. The 30,000 square-foot location has hired 110 team members and will be open daily from 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. The first 200 customers will receive 20 percent off their total initial purchase, and every shopper on opening day will receive a free reusable shopping bag with purchase, a news reease said. Local customers can also enter to win a $500 Sprouts gift card by visiting sprouts.com/westchase.The grocer is closely following CDC and local health authority guidelines related to Covid-19, a news release said. In addition to regular food safety and cleaning procedures, Sprouts invested additional labor hours into stores to allow for more frequent cleaning and implemented steps to promote social distancing.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman is sharply criticizing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, after DeSantis extended an executive order that bars local governments from enforcing violations of mask mandates. DeSantis extended the order Tuesday, as the state reported increasing numbers of cases of Covid-19. Officials in St. Petersburg had been citing businesses that did not require workers or patrons to wear masks and the governor's order "makes it more difficult for us to have an impact and do what we can to lower these numbers in our communities," Kriseman said Friday on CNN. "For a governor who claims to be all about economic development and looking out for businesses, this is very short-sighted policy that he’s got in place. It will be far worse for our business community and the people who work in those businesses if we have to do a complete shutdown because our numbers explode and there’s no beds in our hospitals." Kriseman said the mandatory face covering ordinance in Pinellas County has made a difference, because the county's positivity rate - or percent of people who take a Covid-19 test and test positive - is more than 1 percentage point lower than the rest of the state. As of Friday, there have been 32,408 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Pinellas County since March, an increase of 613 cases since the state department of health last reported case counts on Wednesday. There was one additional death since Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths attributed to Covid-19 to 885. Pinellas County hospitals report 167 people were hospitalized as of Friday afternoon with a primary diagnosis of Covid, but more than one-third of the total hospital beds in the county remain available, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration said.
Pinellas County added another 331 confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday. It was the second consecutive day that newly confirmed cases have topped 300, and the highest number of new cases since July 24. Three more deaths attributed to Covid-19 were reported in Pinellas County on Wednesday. A total of 884 people have died due to Covid-19 in the county since the pandemic began in March, and there has been a cumulative total of 31,795 cases since then, the Florida Department of Health said. As of Wednesday afternoon, 180 people were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of Covid-19 in Pinellas County hospitals, according to the Florida Agency on Health Care Administration. About 32 percent of the hospital beds in Pinellas and about 23 percent of the adult intensive care beds remain available in Pinellas, AHCA said. The county's positivity rate, or the percent of people who take a Covid test and test positive, remains at about 5.9 percent, higher than the 5 percent threshold that some public health officials say should trigger restrictions, although lower than the 10 percent benchmark in state and federal reopening guidelines.
Barbara Rhode, founder of the Red Tent Women's Initiative in St. Petersburg, will be highlighted Wednesday night in the NBC television special, "Women of Worth." The show will feature the 10 individuals named by beauty company L'Oreal as women who selflessly give back to their communities. It airs at 8 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday night and will be hosted by celebrities, including Helen Mirren, Elle Fanning, Eva Longoria and Viola Davis. The program will be available to stream beginning Thanksgiving day. Red Tent Women's Initiative works with women incarcerated in the Pinellas County Jail to implement positive coping skills and resolve trauma, addiction and socioeconomic disadvantage. The St. Pete Catalyst previously profiled the organization here. Rhode's recognition as a Woman of Worth brings a $10,000 award that will allow Red Tent Women’s Initiative to expand its work, with a chance to receive another $25,000 if Rhode is selected as the national Women of Worth honoree by a popular vote. Voting continues through Friday. Click here to vote.
