Bay Area parks and beaches lured people from their homes on a sunny and warm Saturday despite shelter in place orders — but many of those seeking fresh air seemed to be keeping their distance.
“Extremely busy” was how East Bay Regional Parks General Manager Bob Doyle described the area’s park system.
Still, hikers, joggers and bicyclists had enough room to move around safely, for the most part, Doyle said, though he added, “There are a few hot spots where people (were) misbehaving and overcrowding.”
Public health officials have asked people not to travel for exercise or leisure trips as they look to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Epidemiologists say the risk of contracting the virus while outdoors is lower than it is indoors, so long as people can stay at least 6 feet apart from one another, because outdoor breezes help dissipate particles that might carry the virus.
As the weather gets nicer, and shelter in place orders continue into their second month with little sign they’ll be significantly changing soon, authorities have kept up those efforts to discourage people from leaving their homes and neighborhoods — in some cases backed up by law enforcement that has issued warnings or written tickets to people venturing too far from home for recreation.
Despite those warnings, Saturday’s summery weather led to busy scenes at popular outdoor spaces around the region. Ocean Beach in San Francisco and Alameda Beach on the bay had plenty of visitors; in some cases, nearby sidewalks were crowded, but families, for the most part, had plenty of space to spread out and stay distanced.
For at least one beachside business, the surge of visitors led to conflicting emotions.
“I would certainly love to have a busy summer — that’s the best time of year for us,” said Zachary Davis, co-owner of Santa Cruz’s Glass Jar restaurant group, which includes the Picnic Basket cafe across from the city’s Main Beach and boardwalk. “But I’m not going to advocate for short-term gains for my business if it causes long-term harm to my community.”
At a time when Davis is usually on a hiring spree to gear up for the summer rush, he is instead running his three businesses with a dozen employees total, less than a tenth of his usual staff.With weather upward of the 70s lately and the beach busier than it’s been in weeks, Davis said business at the Picnic Basket has been picking up — it was on pace to do twice as much business this Saturday as the one before. Still, Davis was concerned the surge of visitors who might normally be a boon could instead put his staff at risk if those customers don’t abide by the social distancing guidelines the shop has put into place.
“That’s the balance we have to strike right now,” he said. “Can we do our job in a way that is safe for our staff, and keeps our customers safe?”
