Castor, Kriseman Foresee Cities Opening Soon … With Conditions

The leaders of Tampa and St. Petersburg  spoke to each other - and their communities - during a Facebook Live video Monday afternoon.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman both think parts of their cities will be opening up soon. 

But they said the conditions -- particularly a sustained flattening or decrease in the number of new positive cases - will NOT allow that to happen on a large scale if Governor Ron DeSantis' safer-at-home order expires on May 1.

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"I don't think that we're gonna see enough results from testing or any other information that we can actually make positive decisions on in 10 days," Castor said.

"We haven't had four consecutive days yet where we've seen a flattening and a decrease, and so add 10  days to that,” Kriseman said. “You know, if we haven't had four, we're not going to get to that 14."

Those 14 days of fewer new positive cases is a requirement in President Trump’s three phased approach to reopening the country.

While three mayors of hard-hit areas of South Florida were announced Monday as members of DeSantis' task force to re-open the state, Kriseman and Castor were left off.

Both mayors say they have not spoken to the governor since the outbreak of the pandemic.

As of Monday evening, the Florida Department of Health reported 636 people in Tampa have tested positive for COVID-19, while 166 have in St. Petersburg.

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