Community Corner

Marin County Parks Closed To Slow Spread Of Coronavirus

The order came a day after people from across the Bay Area packed the coastal communities of Marin County.

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MARIN COUNTY, CA — All public parks in Marin County were ordered closed Sunday in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

The order came a day after people from across the Bay Area packed the coastal communities of Marin on Saturday, putting vulnerable residents at risk because of unsafe social distancing and clogging the roads in beach communities.

"They are experiencing typical summer crowds or even bigger," said Sgt. Brenton Schneider of the Marin County Sheriff's Office. "This is creating unsafe conditions for employees working at businesses that are staying open because they are deemed essential. Those workers are being overwhelmed and they are fearful about all the close contact that they're witnessing."

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The closure affects more than 18,000 acres managed by Marin County Parks, including dozens of park facilities and open space preserves.

According to the county, the closure impacts town, city and county parks, open space preserves, state parks such as Mount Tamalpais State Park, Marin Municipal Water District lands, and federal lands such as Point Reyes National Seashore and Muir Woods National Monument, two of the most popular tourist attractions in Marin.

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On Monday, however, Fairfax police announced that the order does not affect the town of Fairfax.

"This order does not effect our parks here in Fairfax for our residents," police said.

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According to the order, visitors can continue to use paved pathways maintained by the county, such as the Mill Valley-Sausalito Multiuse Pathway along Richardson Bay and the Corte Madera Pathway along Corte Madera Creek, as long as people follow guidelines on social distancing.

"While we are glad that people love visiting our parks and preserves, we are following the guidance of our Public Health doctors and closing all of our facilities to protect the health of our community," Parks Director Max Korten said. "In the short term, we will need to sacrifice to protect the most vulnerable members of our community in order to get through this challenging time and enjoy the outdoors once again together in the future."

Marin is one of seven Bay Area counties where shelter-in-place orders went into effect March 16. Gov. Gavin Newsom followed with a statewide stay-at-home directive two days later.

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