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Warm spring weather caused thousands of people to rush to New York City’s parks this weekend, despite stay-at-home orders.
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But most of them appeared to be observing social distancing rules in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
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City officials were expecting crowds and sent out 1,000 police officers to monitor the situation, with many of them patrolling parks and even handing out free face masks.
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Speaking about people gathering in the parks this weekend, Mayor Bill de Blasio said: “The nice weather is very much a threat to us.”
Thousands of New Yorkers flocked to the city’s park this weekend enticed by the warm weather despite stay-at-home orders.
While people exercised, walked their dogs, and even enjoyed picnics in and around Central Park, it appeared they were still endeavoring to adhere to social-distancing measures.
City officials, who were expecting the large crowds, sent out 1,000 police officers to monitor the situation and hand out free face masks.
Scroll down to see photos of thousands of people gathering in New York city’s parks.
New Yorkers rushed to parks and open spaces on Saturday as the first weekend of May welcomed temperatures in the high 70s.
Noam Galai/Getty Images
Source: New York Times
Thousands of people were sunbathing, doing exercise, walking their dogs, and even picnicking in and around Central Park.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
New York State, which has been one of the worst-affected in the country, is still under an executive order from Gov. Andrew Cuomo that restricts any “nonessential gatherings” until at least May 15.
Noam Galai/Getty Images
Source: New York Times
But it appeared as if New Yorkers — some of who wore masks — were following the social-distancing measures as much as possible.
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A spokesperson for the New York City Pars Department told CNN that while there were a lot of park-goers out this weekend, most of them were complying with social-distancing rules.
Source: CNN
City officials were also aware that the warm weather would draw crowds, sending out 1,000 police officers to enforce social distancing measures and also give away free face masks.
Noam Galai/Getty Images
Source: CNN
But some people didn’t enjoy the police presence. “It’s Orwellian to be watched like this,” one park-goer told the New York Post.
Noam Galai/Getty Images
Source: New York Post
The crowds of people are making public officials nervous. In a radio interview on Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said: “The nice weather is very much a threat to us.”
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images
But de Blasio also said that it is “totally understandable” that people want to go out and get some fresh air.
“People have heard that we need them to stay home, overwhelmingly they have. Even with good weather, they’ve gone out for a while and they came back home,” he added.
Source: CNN
Parks have remained open in the city, with public health experts saying that they are generally regarded as a relatively low-risk environment for illness transmission.
Noam Galai/Getty Images
Jennifer Nuzzo, an associate professor at the Department of Epidemiology at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to the New York Times: “There’s no reason a family can’t picnic in the park.”
However, Nuzzo also said that it’s difficult to determine whether the groups of people spotted in the park are from the same household or not. “It’s hard for the people who enforce this to know whether they’re dealing with a family or not,” she said.
Source: New York Times
New York State has seen a decline in new coronavirus cases in the last few days, but locals are still ordered to keep their outings to a minimum.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
“I believe with the warm weather people will come outside, and that’s great,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday in Queens, according to the New York Times.
“Go for a walk, but just respect the social distance and wear a mask,” he added.
Source: New York Times
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