** Pinellas County Commission issues "Safer at Home" order **

Places of that facilitate public assembly and non-essential businesses ordered to close

• BCC extends local state of emergency and issues "Safer at Home" order.
• Residents are ordered to follow CDC guidelines, stay home as much as possible save for essential needs.
• Non-essential businesses are ordered to close storefront operations and customer foot traffic unless they are able to comply with CDC guidelines.
• Places of public assembly are ordered to close, including: movie theaters, museums, pool halls, bowling alleys, country clubs and others
• County public parks will stay open; however, playgrounds within the parks will be closed.

The spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) continues to pose a significant health risk to our community. As a result, the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday extended its local state of emergency declaration another week and adopted a "Safer At Home" Order for individuals, business owners, and any place of public assembly to slow the spread of the virus. The Order is effective starting Thursday, March 26, 2020, at 12 p.m. and will continue so long as there is a declared local state of emergency in Pinellas.

"It's important for us to flatten the curve of COVID-19 infections in Pinellas County while balancing the needs of our community and we are exercising every reasonable power to slow the spread," said Commission Chair Pat Gerard. "These actions, with the cooperation of our Pinellas residents and businesses, will help us prevent worse scenarios in the future."