Public Lands Are Essential to Public Health During a Pandemic

Abstract

* Abbreviation: COVID-19 — : coronavirus disease 2019 In the face of the emerging coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, on March 16, 2020, health officers from 7 San Francisco Bay Area health counties were among the first in the nation to issue orders for residents to shelter in place. The orders were intended to protect public health while allowing residents to engage in “essential activities.” Recognizing the health importance of exercise and time in nature, 1 of 5 essential activities allowed was “to engage in outdoor recreation activity,” including “walking, hiking, biking and running outdoors,” if one kept a distance from others. The weekend after these orders, warm weather inspired large numbers of residents to leave their homes for parks, creating crowds in which it was not possible to socially distance. People who had stayed at home expressed anger that park goers endangered the collective community.1 As a consequence, 2 of the health officers were compelled to close access to county parks, which were in turn followed by partial and full park closures of many regional, city, and state parks throughout California.2 Closing parks comes at some cost. Spending time in nature has never been more important than in our 21st century industrialized world in which most people spend 90% of their time … Address correspondence to Nooshin Razani, MD, MPH, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th St, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94158. E-mail: nooshin.razani{at}ucsf.edu