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Our orders: Shelter-in-place. And if you can’t, make sure there’s social distance between yourself and others. How does that look in the Bay Area, and in other parts of the country?
Students and other travelers enjoying spring break vacations amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are drawing the ire of people sheltering-in-place to prevent the coronavirus’ spread and causing officials in several vacation destinations to clamp down on social gatherings.
In the Bay Area, parks districts are balancing the need for recreation with public safety. Local recreational areas are staying open and encouraging visitors to follow expert recommendations for social distancing — no groups that aren’t direct family members; staying at least six feet apart from others — during activities such as jogging, cycling, hiking and walking.
Cities like Miami Beach and New Orleans struggled to enforce pandemic-related shutdowns. Videos shared online showed officers clearing Bourbon Street in New Orleans as large crowds gathered in defiance of a March 11 ban enacted by the city’s mayor the week before the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. Tourists in South Florida, meanwhile, told reporters why they were still cruising the beaches in spite of an official declaration canceling spring break there, according to CNN.
Bay Area police departments are reassuring outgoing residents that “no one’s going to jail” over the regional lockdown those agencies are enforcing. But defiance of social distancing recommendations and gathering bans nationwide is resulting in concerned members of the public responding by “quarantine shaming” those who refuse to obey, AP reported.
As the debate continues over how much social distancing should interfere with daily life amid spring break and the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. State Department issued Thursday a Level 4 travel advisory, urging citizens to avoid all international travel: “In countries where commercial departure options remain available, U.S. citizens who live in the United States should arrange for immediate return to the United States, unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period.”
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