Coronavirus: Rockland County Wants State Parks Closed

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Rockland officials have called on New York State officials to close all state parks in the county, saying that too many people have been using them and not following social distancing guidelines. The new coronavirus pandemic continues to spread in Rockland, with 8,335 cases of COVID-19 confirmed by the state health department. That's up from 6,665 confirmed as of April 9.

Health officials report 209 Rockland residents have died from the disease.

More than one-third of Rockland County is parkland, and most of that parkland belongs to the state, lawmakers Laurie Santulli, Christopher Carey, James Foley, Lon Hofstein, Jay Hood, Doug Jobson, John McGowan, Aney Paul and Vince Tyer pointed out in a letter April 10 to Erik Kulleseid, Commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

That includes Bear Mountain, Harriman, Hook Mountain, Nyack Beach, Blauvelt, Tallman Mountain and one of the most popular, Rockland Lake.

“I see with my own eyes on a daily basis, the cars pulling into the parking lot and the walkers, runners, joggers, and others filling Rockland Lake,” Santulli said in a press release.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day wrote to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

"This past weekend, I received several complaints from residents, advising that many of the State parks here in Rockland County were overrun with people, parking lots were so full that cars were parking along the roadways and large groups of people were gathering. As a result, social distancing was not being practiced. This puts us all at risk," Day said in the April 13 letter. "Last week, NJ Governor Phil Murphy took the responsible step to close State and County parks in New Jersey. The resulting action, unfortunately, has been that residents of New Jersey are flocking to the multiple state parks here in Rockland County. This influx of people is in addition to the high number of regional visitors these parks already see this time of year, with day trippers from New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut commonplace.

"You have stressed the importance of coordinating efforts with other states, including during your joint press conference today with the governors from the states surrounding New York. It makes little sense for New Jersey State parks to be closed, but for New York’s to remain open."

The Rockland County Division of Environmental Resources closed all its county parks April 7.

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