Cristina Herrera
Tampa, Florida
3:30 p.m. Thursday, May 7

Tampa residents having mixed emotions about reopening businesses

With beaches, restaurants, and many businesses opening after a month of lockdown, many people are rushing to get back to how life was before COVID-19, but many feel these openings are happening way too soon.

Officials cannot stress enough that the reopening of Tampa does not mean ending the practice of social distancing, but people are still worried residents will cease to maintain social distancing guidelines.

Pictures of a crowd outside Green Lemon, a Mexican restaurant in Tampa surfaced on the internet recently, and people were quick to comment about the scene. The mob of people was waiting outside the restaurant to eat and celebrate Cinco de Mayo (May 5). The owner of the restaurant closed his business early and encouraged people to return to their homes.

This is a perfect example of what many feared. Tampa’s number of cases is much lower than many expected, but the last thing anyone would want is the number to soar again because people decided to stop practicing social distancing.

Thankfully, every public place that I have recently been to has people wearing masks and practicing social distancing. As great as it is for businesses to reopen, I think people need to be even more cautious of their surroundings to minimize any possibilities of the virus spreading.

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