This year, COVID-19 entered everyone’s lives and the world has been in a panic ever since; malls, theme parks, sporting events, and even holidays have all been canceled/shut down. Yet, parks in the city of Long Beach remain open.
Take one stroll down to a local park and you will see it filled with many visitors, many in groups without a care in the world.
One may think a place where so many people have the possibility of coming in close contact with each other would be a place to avoid.
Still, parks like Scherer Park in Bixby Knolls and Silverado Park on Santa Fe Ave. have no shortage of visitors, many with the common understanding that the threat of visiting a park during a time like this is not a worry.
Jogger Dalia Valles, visits the park around twice a week, mainly visiting for a jog around the park.
When asked if she had any fear about coming to the park she said, “Kind of, but not really. If I see somebody, I’ll just go around them.”
She also said she doesn’t come to socialize or mingle with anyone, therefore, her fear is not great at all.
Some park goers such as Rumil Legaspi take extra measures to protect others from the possibility of contracting COVID-19.
Legaspi said he does not visit the park without having been tested for COVID-19. On the day of the interview, he had tested negative for COVID-19 and decided to head to the basketball court for a game of pick-up basketball.
It was his first day shooting with other people and said, “Normally, if with my friends, we’d come together to the park and made sure we were negative.”
He also said he’d like to see more active engagement from city and park officials when it comes to making park visitors in Long Beach feel safer and more comfortable. “Maybe an app notifying which parks are allowed to open and test centers close to the park can help,” Legaspi said.
For now, it seems many park visitors are taking extra measures to ensure the possibility of contracting COVID-19 at their favorite park is close to zero.