Residents of California are flocking to local beaches and state parks as the weather warms amid the coronavirus pandemic, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is putting a stop to it.
According to a memo sent by the California Police Chiefs Association on April 29, Newsom will be announcing the closure of all beaches and state parks.
“After the well-publicized media coverage of overcrowded beaches this past weekend, in violation of Governor Newsom’s Shelter in Place Order, the Governor will be announcing tomorrow that all beaches and all state parks in California will be closed effective, Friday, May 1st,” the memo reads.
BREAKING: A source has provided me with this bulletin that will be sent out to all California police chiefs notifying them that tomorrow, Governor Newsom will announce the closure of ALL beaches and state parks effective May 1st in response to recent beach crowds in OC . @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/RG53HhmySf
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 30, 2020
Newsom recently expressed his concern over an increase in the volume of residents making their way to beaches and state parks as the weather warms, as IJR previously reported.
“We’re walking into a very warm weekend. People are prone to want to go to the beaches, parks, playgrounds and go on a hike, and I anticipate there will be significant increase in volume,” Newsom said last week.
He added, “But I also think if there is and people aren’t practicing physical distancing, I’ll be announcing again these numbers going back up.”
As of Thursday morning, California has nearly 49,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 1,900 deaths due to the virus.
The California Police Chiefs Association acknowledged the challenges each community may face as a result of the closures.
“We wanted to give all of our members a heads up about this in order to provide time for you to plan for any situations you might expect as a result, knowing each community has its own dynamics,” the memo reads.
California was the first state to issue a stay-at-home order in mid-March, as IJR previously reported.
The United States continues to see an uptick of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths. There are more than 1,040,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and over 60,000 deaths, as of Thursday morning.