TAMPA, Fla. — As Tampa Bay area leaders wrestle with whether to require people to wear masks in public, the I-Team took a look at past complaints the state received over a lack of social distancing at local businesses.
The Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation received a total of 165 complaints about businesses that shouldn’t have been open or weren’t enforcing social distancing — between March 18 and April 22 – when most of the state was shut down.
The I-Team found 64 of those complaints – or nearly 39 percent – were in the Tampa Bay area.
These complaints are several months old, but as we continue to see infection rates climb, it could give state officials hints about how people are deciding to social distance – or choosing to ignore that advice.
As of Thursday morning, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) reports more than 85,900 total coronavirus cases in the state and a death toll of more than 3,000. The Sunshine State once again set another single-day record for new coronavirus cases on Thursday, with 3,207. This was the fifth time in eight days a new record has been set, according to the Associated Press.