St. Pete Chamber presents: Coronavirus Impact Insights. 5-26-20

On this episode, Tashika Griffith, provost of St. Petersburg College Downtown & Midtown campuses joins Chris Steinocher, CEO of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Joe Hamilton, publisher of the St. Pete Catalyst.

But first, as usual, Steinocher takes listeners through the Florida Chamber Scorecard for Pinellas County. He says the outlook remains optimistic, as the percent of positive tests cases hovers at less than 2 percent, despite the 14-day average of positive cases increasing to 22.3 on Memorial Day, and down to 22.2 Tuesday.

From Friday, the positive cases jumped from 20.6 per day to 22.2, just short of Pinellas County’s peak of 25 positive cases per day in April, though testing has widely expanded since that time. Steinocher says that the indicators are good following the first two weeks of reopening in Pinellas County and across Florida.

Griffith, originally from the Bahamas, is no stranger to crisis. In her 20 years of higher ed experience, Griffith spent time at Virginia Tech, and worked there during the infamous school shooting in 2007.

Still, Griffith, who steers two of St. Pete College’s 11 Pinellas County campuses, says she has never seen anything like the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus has thrown higher education into a swirl of uncertainty, rendering higher education professionals unable to do what they do best – plan. Uncertainty has made planning through the pandemic and ensuring the safety of all stakeholders particularly challenging, especially given the unknowns in regard to its impact on students.

St. Pete College has worked to support its 47,000 students during the crisis, moving to an online format from Mid-March to the end of May, and now beginning its summer session online as well.

#stpeteCatalyst #stpetechamber #spc #stpetefl #sunshineshere  #TampaBay #radio #radiostpete