Opinion: Tampa and St. Pete host big events during COVID-19. Why?

Update: 3/12 2:26PM: River O'Green & St. Patrick's Day Parade in Tampa are now canceled due to Coronavirus.

Update: 3/12 12:39PM: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has now called for a limit on mass gatherings. He says he does not have the power to stop them though, that is up to municipalities and private businesses.

Update 3/12 9:44AM: General admission to the St. Pete Firestone Grand Prix is now canceled due to Coronavirus. The decision as to whether hold races at all will be made later today.

Ireland canceled their St. Patrick's Day parade due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) spreading throughout Europe. Miami canceled Ultra Music Festival. The NBA canceled the rest of the season after a player tested positive to the virus. 200 people died yesterday in Italy due to COVID-19.

Americans are quickly waking up to the ugly reality that COVID-19 has been spreading throughout the United States for weeks without any detection due to a failure to provide adequate testing for the new pandemic that is still occurring today. Over 1,000 cases are confirmed in the country and many more still are out there untested. At least 3 are confirmed in Tampa Bay. Efforts to downplay the seriousness of COVID-19 have only served to allow the virus to spread faster and further.

Universities and colleges are closing in Florida and moving to online classes. Major corporations such as Google and Microsoft are putting "work from home" directives out. Companies such as Darden and Amazon have announced paid sick leave for employees to combat the virus and try to maintain consumer confidence.

Yet - Tampa and St. Petersburg are both still having massive events this weekend. St. Petersburg is having their Grand Prix of St. Pete that is expected to draw over 150,000 and Tampa is having their 2020 Mayor's River O' Green Festival at Curtis Hixon Park that usually draws thousands to Downtown Tampa.

There is evidence that the United States is not prepared to handle a pandemic and today the in-house doctor to Congress told Republicans that 70 million to 150 million Americans could become infected with COVID-19 in the future. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the mortality rate hovers around 3.4% for COVID-19 which means that thousands if not millions of people could die if the virus is not contained. Should that be the case, priority should be taken to saving lives and preventing infections from spreading.

Continuing to have massive events and festivals like nothing is wrong during a time of crisis is truly wreckless and endangers the lives of the people we care about in our communities. Canceling massive events can be a step to try and slow down the spread of a virus and help to contain it.

This is not about fear, but about the responsibility to our senior citizens and communities to protect their health. St. Patrick's Day and a race are not more important than the lives of our citizens.

Slowing down the spread of COVID-19 is critical to stopping it from overwhelming our health system and to prevent a more serious event in the future. COVID-19 is anything but a hoax and I expect more from leaders in our community to make hard decisions to protect the lives of the people who live here in the Sunshine State.

I find myself very disappointed in Mayor Rick Kriseman in St. Petersburg and Mayor Jane Castor in Tampa and fully expect them to be held accountable for acting like business as usual during a time when we need to be more cautious and assertive to protecting others.