Name: Bay Area playgrounds can reopen after California changes stay-home order
Brand: sfchronicle.com
SKU: sfchronicle-com-146
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Bay Area playgrounds can reopen after California changes stay-home order

preview

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigatePlaygrounds can remain open under California’s new stay-at-home orders, state officials said Wednesday, quietly reversing their original lockdown rules following intense public backlash.The move marked the second significant modification of the guidelines, which are less than a week old, further fueling the mounting political and legal challenges to California’s latest attempt to get the surging coronavirus pandemic under control.Counties were required to close playgrounds under announced last week as cases of the coronavirus spiked again in California and across the country. The move upset and confused parents, and even some public health experts, who wondered why the state continued to allow seemingly riskier activities like indoor shopping.Ali Bay, a spokesperson for the California Department of Public Health, said Wednesday that the state changed course on closing playgrounds after hearing concerns from the community about the lack of outdoor spaces for children.“Based on this input, playgrounds will remain open with modifications” that include masking and social distancing, she said in a statement, “We encourage all children and families to get outdoors during this challenging time for exercise, fresh air and good mental health while avoiding sites where people congregate and where social distancing is not possible.”More for youPlaygrounds had been shut down for seven months during California’s initial stay-at-home order, before being allowed to reopen in mid-October, with new rules including requirements for masks, social distancing and time limits. When the state banned them again last week, local officials and some public health experts pushed back, arguing that there was scant data linking playgrounds with the spread of the virus.Counties across the Bay Area, including San Francisco, Alameda and Marin counties, moved Wednesday to reopen playgrounds and parks. In Marin County, the reversal came less than 24 hours after those playgrounds were forced to shut down.The state, which had originally required all retailers to operate at 20% capacity under the new stay-at-home orders, already adjusted its regulations on Sunday for grocery stores, because of concerns raised by the California Grocers Association about long lines and stockpiling.And after a judge on Tuesday Los Angeles County’s prohibition on outdoor dining as an abuse of emergency power “unsupported by any findings,” opponents are now considering challenging a similar state restriction.As the Sacramento region prepared Wednesday to enter its own state-mandated stay-at-home order, Assemblyman James Gallagher, a Yuba City (Sutter County) Republican who has sued Gov. Gavin Newsom over his during the pandemic, slammed the administration for a lack of transparency about its public health decisions.“It’s yet another example of how this governor’s inconsistency and hypocrisy have caused the public to completely lose trust in his dictatorship,” he said in a statement.Across San Francisco, parents said the playground restrictions upended family routines, took away the chance for their children to act like children, and, in some neighborhoods, also took away some of the only safe spaces for their children to play outside.Maria Cortez lives in a small apartment at the intersection of Turk and Hyde streets in the Tenderloin, right next to the Turk and Hyde Mini Park. She would take her two children, ages 7 and 5, to the park every day, feeling it was the only safe place nearby to let them run around and breathe fresh air.“The parks mean a lot to me and my family,” Cortez said. “They are more important now than ever because they help with the kids’ well-being and state of mind.”She said she felt confused when the closures were announced last week, especially since the Turk and Hyde Mini Park employs stewards who are there to make sure the area is safe and people are abiding by social distancing guidelines.“I did not really understand the regulations or the meaning behind the closing of the parks, when the parks are out in the open,” Cortez said.Just before noon Wednesday, the mini park was opened again. “We felt a lot of excitement and happiness,” Cortez said.Karina Mora, who also lives in the Tenderloin with her 9-year-old daughter, said that under San Francisco’s stay-home orders, “the parks were the one place where my daughter can be a child — run and jump and shout — and really just be outside.”Cliff Yee said his 7-year-old daughter, Charlotte, missed three things when she found out she could not be in school earlier this year: her teachers, her friends — and the monkey bars.The Richmond District father of two bought his daughter a jump rope toward the beginning of the pandemic, thinking the lockdowns would not last long. But the novelty quickly wore off.It was easier to expend energy with his 2-year-old son — a couple of laps around the living room would do the trick.Yee said the reaction from his children when they were able to go to the playground in October for the first time since the onset of the pandemic still brings a smile to his face: “After an hour or an hour and a half of the laughter that comes out of children — it’s such a precious moment as a parent to see that much joy from your child,” he said.Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.Yee said he could not understand that reasoning behind shuttering playgrounds, while keeping indoor stores open, albeit at a limited capacity.“I was like, ‘What’s going on here?’” he said. “How are these decisions being made off the data and science?”Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco, said the decision to shut down playgrounds last week may have eroded some of the trust built between San Franciscans and public health officials over the course of the pandemic.“I’m absolutely delighted by the reversal,” she said. “It will regenerate that trust. It will help rekindle trust in the governor’s restrictions — when something that wasn’t clearly data-driven was reversed.”I'm glad to hear that the State has updated their Stay at Home order to allow outdoor playgrounds to open. Outdoor activity is important for all of our physical and mental health, especially children.We're now updating our guidelines and playgrounds in SF will open by tomorrow.— London Breed (@LondonBreed)During a public address on the city’s pandemic response Wednesday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed warned that playgrounds could close again if cases continue to spiral out of control — while also urging empathy and understanding from parents who may see violations of social distancing guidelines at the open playgrounds.“The last thing we want to see is our numbers escalate out of control to where we have to close our playgrounds again,” Breed said. “We don’t want to do that under any circumstances.”In San Francisco, playgrounds will officially reopen Thursday, after the city’s amended health order takes effect.But San Francisco Recreation and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg said some playgrounds would reopen Wednesday, and stressed the need for parents “to abide by rules and capacity limits. We want these spaces to stay open for our kids, but now it’s up to us adults to do the right thing and take the rules and restrictions seriously,” he said.“The kids need the win,” Ginsburg added.Chronicle staff writer Nora Mishanec contributed to this report.Michael Williams and Alexei Koseff are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: , Twitter: ,Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Area’s largest water districts.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigatePlaygrounds can remain open under California’s new stay-at-home orders, state officials said Wednesday, quietly reversing their original lockdown rules following intense public backlash.The move marked the second significant modification of the guidelines, which are less than a week old, further fueling the mounting political and legal challenges to California’s latest attempt to get the surging coronavirus pandemic under control.Counties were required to close playgrounds under announced last week as cases of the coronavirus...

public

Alexei Koseff

Michael Williams

Delivering the Bay Area’s best journalism every day. Subscribe and support the newsroom: http://SFChronicle.com/subscribe

Bay Area playgrounds can reopen after California changes stay-home order

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS