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One of the most drastic measures undertaken by people in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the adoption of widespread social distancing. While millions work from home and try to stay away from crowds, the idea of staying socially distant for the foreseeable future has many people getting a little stir-crazy.
In order to help out with this feeling of isolation, the National Parks service is waiving entry fees to all national parks during the pandemic response.
“This small step makes it a little easier for the American public to enjoy the outdoors in our incredible National Parks,” said Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt of the move.
Bernhardt ordered this action to all parks that have remained open during the pandemic.
He continued, “Our vast public lands that are overseen by the Department offer special outdoor experiences to recreate, embrace nature and implement some social distancing.”
Some parks across the nation are closing certain facilities. However, the majority of the US’s national parks are staying open during the pandemic. This hasn’t gone without criticism, of course. Some groups have called on the parks to close in order to preserve the health of park workers.
People utilizing the national parks are likely not doing so with dozens of people. But there is an argument that any gatherings should be avoided during the pandemic. However, as long as people are maintaining a distance from others and not touching surfaces and then touching their faces, the risk of exposure to the virus while outdoors is significantly lower than in an indoor gathering.
As the disease spreads through the US, it’s important to note what impact social distancing is having. There are 7,500 confirmed cases in the US, and at least 125 deaths. But these numbers might not accurately reflect the situation. For one thing, it’s quite possible that the coronavirus was active in the US much earlier than initially thought. How early? Possibly as early as January.
Similarly, it’s quite possible that what many people thought was a rough flu season was actually the early wave of the COVID-19 coronavirus washing through the country. As such, the number of confirmed cases likely differs dramatically from the real number of cases. Similarly, there were thousands of deaths from the 2019-2020 flu season. A significant number of those deaths may have actually been due to the novel coronavirus.
