Beach bound or not? Will DC Residents Cross the Bay Bridge?

Washington, DC

The Ocean City beach, boardwalk, and inlet reopens on Saturday. Ocean City, Mayor Rick Meehan, says the beach and boardwalk will reopen with the same social distancing and crowd size restrictions in place. Plus, adding all of Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's emergency orders including stay-at-home and social distancing requirements remain. "I want to make it clear this does not supersede any of the governor's stay-at-home order" says Meehan.

Washingtonian Laura Davies says she was happy to hear the news about Ocean City reopening. "I was jumping for joy. If the weather is good, I'll get in my car and drive over the bay bridge to Ocean City." Davies's says she hopes shops and restaurants will reopen to serve visitors.

John Hofman along with his wife, Pam, owns Johnny's Pizza and Pub in Ocean City, Maryland and Ocean Pines, Maryland has been serving vacationers and locals for over 30 years. John says, "I've never seen anything like this before" referring to the coronavirus, and adds "his pizza business is adapting through delivery service, but, feels concern for other small business owners". He is happy to see an increase in beach goers but says caution and social distancing is important.

Deborah Hall who owns and operates, T & T Produce in Selbyville, Delaware, relies on vacationers flocking to Delaware and Maryland beaches for her produce business. As an essential business, Deborah, created fresh produce boxes with a mixture of veggies and fruits. She says costs has gone up a bit as a result of shipping, labor, and unexpected things related to the coronavirus. "On a tomato farm, the farmer had to throw away lots of tomatoes because they had no workers to pick them". Deborah's business also comes from locals and cars just passing by, but is hoping slowly sales will pick up.

Paul of Paul and Vinny’s Pizzeria is still serving up his hot pizzas and subs. Paul is proving carry out services and seeing a steady flow of customers at his Ocean Pines location.

Most restaurants offer carryout service, while liquor stores are open but limiting the number of customers inside, and DC resident Laura Davies believes "people will practice social distancing on their own and still find away to have a good time". The numbers will tell the story if visitors come to Ocean City, Maryland and Delaware beaches on the first opening weekend. One thing is for sure, as America starts to reopen state's and relax rules, the coronavirus is still killing Marylander's. New cases in MD are up but hospitalizations are stay flat.