Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many public areas where large groups of people may gather have closed to slow the spread of the virus. Places like the theaters, beaches, and malls are temporarily closed until further notice, while essential areas such as grocery stores and pharmacies have remained open. 

However, recently state officials have approved it to be okay for several beaches in Orange County to reopen. These beaches include Aliso Beach, Capistrano Beach, Dana Point Harbor, Newport Harbor, Salt Creek beach, and Sunset Harbor. Since the U.S. currently has the most cases of Corona restrictions have been placed for those who wish to visit the beach. 

Visitors are only allowed to participate in activities of “active use” such as jogging, surfing, swimming etc. While laying on the sand, sleeping, picnicking and similar acts are not allowed. 

In addition to the activity restrictions, the public beach bathrooms and parking lots are remaining closed so people that live far from the beaches may want to avoid the beach unless they have a strong bladder and can find parking. 

People who wish to go to the beach should consider whether the risks outweigh the benefits. Currently, California has had over 60,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with around forty-eight percent being in Los Angeles County. People should take into consideration the people who have lost family members to the virus and who have had to stay away from family members themselves to avoid getting infected. 

If the beach must really be on their agenda, it would be smart to wait until the stay-at-home orders end for Los Angeles County on May 15th, before they go to let the spread slow for a bit more. Until then people should stick to leaving their homes for essentials, and avoiding contact with people. 

Those that live with the elderly and people with compromised immune systems should also take their safety into consideration and wait. A student from Compton High School who was infected had to be quarantined when it was discovered they had corona virus. To keep others safe, and because there is a high chance they may get more sick, they are still currently being quarantined.

The student describes what was going through his head when he first discovered he was infected, “ I felt very scared and very insecure about myself at first because there’s literally no telling whether there will be a cure or not and also because people wouldn’t talk or even look at me the same. There was really nothing to do but just wait for a better tomorrow.” 

Instead of going to the beach, there are numerous activities people can do instead such as binging a tv show, at-home exercises, expanding their culinary skills, reading more books, and face timing friends. The safety of the community should be our top priority until the pandemic ends.