Hillsborough County releases preliminary reopening survey results

HILLSBOROUGH CO., Fla (WFLA) – Hillsborough County’s Emergency Policy Group is analyzing the preliminary results of a county-wide reopening survey.

Conducted between May 27 and June 16, more than 17,000 Hillsborough County residents responded to a series of questions about the reopening of the community.

Among the chief concerns about reopening, 66 percent of respondents were worried that other people would not continue to practice social distancing and 58 percent were concerned that others would not wear a mask or face-covering in public.

Residents were also asked about their intentions in the future, three-quarters of them responded planning to continue to wear a mask.

Surveys also included space for residents to comment anonymously on any aspect of the reopening. Here are some of those open-ended responses:

• “All persons should wear masks in stores, not just employees. If you cannot even be bothered to take such a simple yet effective measure, then you should not be outside. At all.”
• “Reopening means heading back as a teacher to an elementary school. I am scared for myself and my family – – children simply are not mature enough to handle social distancing, nor should they have to. Distance learning should remain in effect.”
• “I worry about working with the public, who are not good at following social distancing guidelines and ignore policies put in place in by businesses.”
• “I love my job, the organization I work for and I enjoy going to work and being around my coworkers. It’s time to get back to that.

Currently, Hillsborough County claims 4,610 of the state’s 85,926 total cases— just over 5 percent.

On Thursday, Florida reported 3,207 additional coronavirus cases, a record for single-day increases since the state reported its first cases.