Page 15 - Florida Sentinel 4-3-20

Local
City Lights Up To Inspire Pride During COVID-19
The City of Tampa is light- ing up red, white, and blue as a beacon of hope and unity for our city, state, and nation in the face of COVID-19. Old City Hall and downtown Tampa bridges and fountains will be changing to red, white, and blue, in solidarity with our country during this difficult time, and to inspire a sense of national and local pride.
The change began Sunday night.
Mayor Jane Castor
said, “We are one city, one state, and one nation, united together in our fight against COVID-19. The American people and the people of Tampa are incredibly re- silient, and we will get
through this difficult time to- gether. While we may have to be apart for a little while, we are still united in spirit and our community is stronger than ever.”
The City of Tampa would like to remind residents to stay at home as much as they can to protect themselves and others from the spread of COVID-19.
For information about COVID-19 and the Safer At Home order that went into effect on Friday, visit tam- pagov.net/COVID-19.
Residents can also text TAMPAREADY or TAMPAL- ISTA to 888-777 to receive real-time emergency text alerts directly to their phones.
USF Medical Engineers To Mass Produce Face Shields For Protection Against Coronavirus
The University of South Florida (USF) College of Engi- neering has delivered 100 face shields to Tampa General Hos- pital - one of several ongoing initiatives at USF to address the nationwide shortage of per- sonal protective equipment. Medical staff wear the shields over face masks while interact- ing with patients to protect against the spread of coron- avirus.
The USF Mini-Circuits De- sign for X Laboratory has de- veloped an assembly line under the direction of Michael Ce- lestin, PhD, to create the face shields with materials such as mylar, elastic and foam. Ce- lestin and his team are pro- ducing one per minute and hope over the next month to manufacture 10,000 face shields to be donated to Tampa General Hospital, USF’s pri- mary teaching hospital and the USF Health faculty practice.
"USF Engineering is totally committed to supporting our medical front line workers and local community,” said Ce- lestin. “As we come together and find new local manufactur- ing solutions, build new inter- disciplinary ties, and are pressed to innovate with avail- able resources, it's clear that we will emerge stronger than be- fore."
“This is the first time we’ve
had a medical emergency that’s required engineers to partner with the Morsani College of Medicine in an effective and fast way,” said Robert H. Bishop, PhD, PE, dean of the USF College of Engineering. “We are facing a real-world cri- sis where we need to deliver and that’s exactly what we are doing.”
“We face a national shortage of personal protective equip- ment and our USF College of Engineering is helping to fill the gap with their innovative design and production ap- proach to help protect our frontline providers,” said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, senior vice president of USF Health and dean of the Mor- sani College of Medicine.
In addition to face shields, USF researchers from a variety of disciplines are working tire- lessly to develop new methods to combat COVID-19 and to produce materials that can help better protect our medical community.
FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2020 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3-B