Partiers, protesters skip social distancing, masks
Public health strictures begin to fall away as people gather
Melissa Shapiro, 26, sat in the sun under a sign suggesting social distancing at the Redhead Lakeside Grill on Saturday, as dozens stood shoulderto-shoulder in waist-deep water before her. “We’re not in LA or New York,” she observed. “We’re at Lake of the Ozarks, and if there were as many people here as there was last weekend, we’d leave.”
Besides, Shapiro said, “we’re millennials, we’re healthy,” and she and her friends planned to isolate themselves for 14 days after returning home to St. Louis.
Proprietors at a number of the bars and eateries that line the Missouri vacation spot said the crowds were about normal for an early summer weekend — albeit smaller than the hordes that packed into the area on Memorial Day. Images of the holiday revelry went viral online.
Local health officials reported that at least one person tested positive for the coronavirus after being in the lake area last weekend. The Camden County Health Department posted a timeline of the multiple bars the unnamed resident of a nearby county had visited in succession over a number of hours.
But on Saturday, face masks and social distancing were scarce to nonexistent in the many marinas and boat docks, and restaurants along the lakefront appeared to be open for business.
Similar scenes played out around the country as many Americans, eager to recapture a sense of normalcy and seemingly confident that the risk was low, enjoyed public recreation and seemed unbothered by the crowds.
Crowds of another sort gathered in a number of cities, where thousands took to the streets, at times amid violence, in protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by white police in Minneapolis.
“We are still in the middle of a pandemic,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, reminded demonstrators in a news conference where he announced the full mobilization of the state National Guard to control the violent unrest.
Warning that hospitals were “on the verge of being overrun,” Walz said “demonstrators should wear masks and try to practice social distancing.”
Far from the demonstrations, highways were gridlocked and beaches and roadsides were crowded around Cape Canaveral, Florida, as thousands gathered to view the launch of the SpaceX capsule carrying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. In some spots, the waterfront was crammed with no social distancing, even as beachside restaurants took temperatures and spaced tables far apart.
President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and their official parties who gathered with other VIPs to watch the launch at the Kennedy Space Center were not seen wearing face masks.
Ace Speedway in Elon, North Carolina, was rebuked last weekend by Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, for “dangerous and reckless” flouting of state regulations banning outdoor gatherings of more than 25 people, after maskless thousands stood together in the grandstands. On Saturday, however, the speedway parking lot was overflowing, and hundreds more stood in line two hours before the 7 p.m. race time.
Temperatures were taken at the entrance, where a sign advised patrons to cover their mouths when sneezing and to wash their hands or use sanitizers. Limits were posted on how many mechanics could gather around cars in the pit — where most wore face masks. But up in the stands, there was neither social distancing nor masks.