S. J. County parks may reopen by mid-May

STOCKTON — Days after San Joaquin County Public Health Services allowed for golf courses to operate under limited conditions, staff is now considering potentially reopening certain aspects of some of its county parks next month.

San Joaquin County Supervisor Tom Patti, who represents District 3, asked during a special Tuesday meeting when more outdoor activities may be open to the public.

“With the summer months coming, and the heat is rising, people want to go out and recreate,” he said. “They want to go boating on the Delta, or go fishing or just go out for a hike at some of our parks. When might we see something on this?”

Marcia Cunningham, the county’s director of general services, said staff was looking to have parks possibly open by May 18.

“The next two weeks we are booked out,” Cunningham said. “It will take us that amount of time to bring our staff back, start maintenance again and get the parks reopened.”

What county residents can do at the parks remains to be seen, she said. Currently, Cunningham said staff is looking at letting park patrons go hiking and possibly fishing where the activities are allowed.

Patti, who was adamant about the county opening golf courses over the last month, wanted to know if boating ramps would be open as well, as many of his District 3 constituents sail boats on the San Joaquin Delta.

Cunningham said she and County Counsel Mark Myles are looking at what kinds of protocols can be put in place for boat ramp operation, much like how the county placed protocols on golf course operation last week.

Myles said he hoped to have an update for supervisors on the potential to re-open parks before the May 18 timeline expires.

The announcement to look into re-opening parks comes as other parts of the state, particularly Newport Beach, allowed residents to visit parks and beaches over the weekend, and as counties such as Yolo, Butte, Sutter, Colusa, Tehama and Glenn ask Gov. Gavin Newsom to let them reopen their economies.

Dr. Maggie Park, the county’s Public Health Officer, told supervisors that Newsom was unhappy with seeing thousands of people flock to Newport Beach’s coastline over the weekend.

And according to KCRA news, of the 500,000 residents who live in the six rural counties asking to reopen, only 69 have tested positive for COVID19.

Park told supervisors that she is currently looking at resuming more activities on a gradual basis as the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the county begins to flatten out.

According to the COVID-19 dashboard online at www.sjcphs.org, there have been 131 hospitalizations, 51 of which have been admitted to intensive care units.

In addition, Park said there have been 535 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county, along with 25 deaths.

“Despite a continued increase in confirmed cases, hospital rates remain flat overall,” she said. “We’ve seen in the last five to six days, (hospitalizations) are running flat, and that’s good news.”

However, Park said she will closely monitor the three-day moving average to see if the number of hospitalizations increase.

She is also looking at whether her decision to reopen golf courses and allow faithbased organizations to host drive-through services produces negative effects, such as an increase in confirmed cases.

She said she hopes the number of hospitalizations does not increase by 3% over the next two weeks. If it does, she will most likely have to reinstate prior restrictions for staying at home, she said.

Park added while other counties are asking Newsom to allow them to reopen their economies, she will continue to stay in line with the governor’s six stages to reopening.

“There is room for variation, and I’m open to moving at a faster tempo than the governor, but only if we are ready,” she said. “We may have lifted restrictions on things, but I would like residents to please continue to social distance as much as you can, especially in places in which we’ve allowed to open.”