Tampa Mayor Castor outlines city preparations for pandemic Super Bowl
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Indoor and outdoor mask mandates, hand-washing stations and strict checks on local businesses are in store for Super Bowl visitors to Tampa, Mayor Jane Castor (D) said Thursday at an Axios virtual event.
The state of play: Tampa ordered an indoor mask mandate early in the pandemic, but Castor further imposed an outdoor mask mandate last month for "areas that we expect there will be large crowds [that] will congregate."
- The city has also received hundreds of thousands of mask donations in preparation for the Super Bowl. Castor says there will be stations to distribute the masks to those in need, with staffers wearing shirts that say, "Want a mask? Just ask."
- The mayor added that city workers will regularly conduct in-person checks of businesses to ensure mask mandates are being followed.
- Castor says the "vast majority" of businesses have been in compliance with the mandates thus far.
Castor and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) also put out a public service announcement forewarning visitors about the mandate.
- A PSA from Castor will further play throughout Tampa International Airport for any travelers to hear.
What she's saying: "This Super Bowl won't be the economic boom that we really had hoped for. But we are going to make the best of it. And we do anticipate that we will have a lot of visitors here," Castor said.
- "We have perfect weather. We live in paradise, and we expect that there will be a lot of visitors from some of the states that are snowed in right now."
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