For the most part the great outdoors have been a place of respite for weary citizens on lockdown during the current coronavirus outbreak, but some parts of the country are now putting limitations on their local parks.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh on Monday announced a series of new measures aimed at cracking down on gatherings at in the city’s public parks. The parks department is zip-tying basketball hoops, removing tennis nets and putting up new signage to remind people to engage in social distancing.
“These measures are to discourage anyone from engaging activities in our parks that will put them or others at risk,” Walsh told the Boston Herald.
Walsh said there were current plans to enforce fines or other penalties for those who disobey the guidance.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also took action yesterday, closing all playgrounds New York City where the total number of deaths doubled from Wednesday into Thursday.
“People say, ‘well when is it over, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks?’ This model projects you’re going to have a high death rate through July. If this model is correct, this could go through the summer,” Cuomo said at a press conference in Albany on Wednesday that was reported on by CNBC.
While the parks will remain open, Cuomo said the decision to close playgrounds was aimed at reducing density and curbing the spread of the virus.
“I warned people that if they didn’t stop the density and the games in the playgrounds — you can’t play basketball, you can’t come in contact with each other — that we would close the playgrounds,” Cuomo said.
