Massachusetts got ‘cooperation’ from beachgoers — and the weather — over Memorial Day weekend
"This was a much more controlled, small crowd."
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Massachusetts officials said Tuesday that beachgoers generally cooperated with anti-crowding efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic over Memorial Day weekend — as did the weather.
After a summer-like Friday with temperatures in the 80s, the state saw thermometers cool off for the majority of the three-day weekend. The high temperature reported Monday at Logan Airpot was 55 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
“We got some cooperation from the weather, for the most part,” Gov. Charlie Baker told reporters Tuesday. “It wasn’t the kind of weekend that people usually hope that Memorial Day is.”
As part of the state’s reopening plan, Massachusetts beaches were allowed to reopen for swimming and sunbathing Monday, though some restrictions remain in place. Groups must be limited to 10 people and are advised to sit at least 12 feet away from other groups; organized ball games are prohibited; and visitors are required to wear face coverings when they can’t keep distance from others.
Despite anecdotal reports of crowding Friday at beaches in South Boston, officials saw “good cooperation” from beachgoers over the weekend, according to Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides.
“People were wearing masks where social distancing wasn’t possible,” Theoharides said. “They were staying spread out along the beach.”
Theoharides had specifically advised Southie beachgoers to refrain from visiting if crowds were beginning to form. And while the Department of Conservation and Recreation has begun reopening state beach parking areas (which were closed to manage crowds) in consultation with local officials, Theoharides said parking would remain closed at the beaches in Southie and Revere, where “the crowd volume has a tendency to get high.”
Still, Theoharides said she was in Revere on Friday and — despite the weather — observed a relatively modest crowd of people maintaining safe distances from one another on the sidewalk and beach.
“Usually the Friday before Memorial Day is very busy, but this was a much more controlled, small crowd,” she said.
The generally positive reviews come after Baker, along with some municipal officials, implored residents not to “let a few nice days step on” all the hard work and sacrifices residents had made to adhere to the state’s shutdown orders and curb the spread of the disease. It also clashed with a smattering of images from across the country — perhaps, most notably, the Lake of the Ozarks — of packed beach and lakeside destinations over the holiday weekend.
But with temperatures forecast to climb into the high 80s on Wednesday, this week may be the bigger test yet for Massachusetts.
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