Barefaced in the park: where masks slip off
Even those who cover up elsewhere make one exception
At San Francisco’s Glen Canyon Park on a recent day, five friends squeezed onto a picnic blanket, passing out drinks and setting aside their masks.
Three men played catch on the softball field, masks pulled down around their necks, warily eyeing passersby.
An unmasked jogger darted through the field.
Across the Bay Area, mask wearing appears to have risen sharply since California’s mask mandate took effect in midJune. In stores and on busy streets, almost everyone wears a face covering. According to a July survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, 74% of respondents said people in their communities should wear masks in public places at all times, and another 12% said most of the time.
But pockets of noncompliance remain — especially in outdoor parks, where people gather with friends.
Most people interviewed for this story said they feel safe without a mask when they are outside, sitting down. They remove their masks in those settings with friends they trust. And everyone who agreed to be interviewed said that they wear masks at all times in public — except in parks.
Data on outdoor transmission are lacking. Experts say that meeting people outdoors is safer than
indoors — but even so, letting your guard down can help the virus to spread. Wearing a mask outdoors is important, especially for those who cannot stay 6 feet apart, Mark Cullen, the director for the Center for Population Health Sciences at Stanford University, said in an email. It’s also required by California, for people who are less than 6 feet apart. Masks prevent some coronavirus-carrying droplets from escaping, and there’s emerging evidence that they also protect the wearer, though to what extent is unclear.
People have occasionally turned aggressive and even violent when asked to wear a mask in a public place. Last month, a Muni bus driver was assaulted with a bat when he asked three passengers to put on masks. At a Marin County trail on Wednesday, an unmasked jogger shoved a hiker who requested he wear a face covering, officials said.
Exercising without masks has been a particular point of tension, and several unmasked joggers — who were close enough to others to need masks — declined to be interviewed in San Francisco parks when approached. San Francisco goes beyond the state rules to require people exercising to wear a mask within 30 feet of others, since runners or bikers can close the gap quickly.
On weekday afternoons at Dolores and Glen Canyon parks, roughly 10% of those sitting, exercising and chatting wore masks, and about half of those sitting near the Pergola at Lake Merritt in Oakland did the same.
Outdoors feels safer than anywhere else, said Carlos Salas, sitting next to his friend Franz Zarate — neither wearing masks — at the edge of Dolores Park in San Francisco. “I always have it with me. It’s a sacrifice we all have to do,” Salas said, displaying his mask. Zarate agreed, adding that they don’t feel they need the mask with each other when sitting down outside.
“We respect each other’s space,” Zarate said.
Down the hill from them, a large group of young women crowded around a picnic blanket, unmasked and aware of the importance of mask wearing. “We respect other people. My contribution is wearing a mask. It’s important,” said Nancy Recinos.
“It’s the least we can do,” added Amanda Arena. “It’s just being considerate, regardless of who you are.”
The women laughed when asked why they were not wearing masks as they sat together. “People we are directly around, we know what they’ve been doing,” Recinos said. They know each other and trust each other, the rest of the group explained, pulling masks out of pockets to show that they all carry them wherever they go.
Trusting friends is a common theme. Another group of women sitting together quickly pulled on face coverings as a reporter approached — out of the people interviewed for this story, the only ones to do so — and said that they keep masks off outside because they feel safe together and respect each other’s boundaries.
Cullen warned about the dangers of that trust. “It’s not magic, of course, and I don’t propose we should all walk around with yardsticks, but friends are as likely to be infected in California now as strangers, and from this perspective distance or mask is needed, even when outside,” Cullen wrote.
One member of a nearby group remained masked and at least 6 feet apart from his friends as they relaxed together. “It’s not that I don’t trust these guys, but you just don’t know,” explained Andrew Poole.
Six feet away, his friend Grace Sager and her partner Elliot Clark — neither wearing masks — laughed upon hearing his comment. “We understand,” Sager said. “This is probably the only instance where I don’t wear one,” she added, describing how she will even wear a face covering in the car because it helps her strengthen the maskwearing habit.
While almost everyone agreed that there is little conflict among friends and family in the area, maskwearing choices in other parts of the country worry people like Sager, Clark and Poole. Some of their parents live outside the Bay Area, and it has been harder to persuade them to wear masks, they said.
Claudia Paredes, a mid30s woman who lives in the East Bay, said the mask issue can be divisive among her friends and family. She has friends who “irresponsibly” don’t wear masks around her, even though she is pregnant, she said.
“California didn’t see the death toll that we were promised, so now many folks haven’t internalized the urgency around COVID prevention and are acting on that lessened urgency,” Paredes said. Many 20to30yearolds believe their symptoms may be like the flu, “so they are counting on being sick at the flu level if they contract COVID and not considering how their infection impacts others,” she said.
But people from ages 18 to 34 make up about 35% of all positive coronavirus cases in California, and 128 people in that age group have died of the illness, according to state data from July 30. On Friday, California reported its first death in the 12to17 age range. “I hope we never have to go through this again,” said Albert Chow, the owner of Great Wall Hardware in San Francisco’s Sunset District. While he experienced a few confrontations with frustrated unmasked customers at the beginning of the pandemic, that conflict has generally faded away.
Now, mask compliance at his store has been generally good “and most people are behaving,” although occasionally someone will forget to put on a mask before walking into the store, he added.
Kirk Gulezian and his little brother were two of a handful of people who wore masks at all times at Dolores Park on Tuesday.
“If it was Saturday, I wouldn’t be here, because you can’t find a spot where you aren’t 20 feet from anyone,” Gulezian said, adding that he felt safe around all the unmasked parkgoers only because of the distance he and his brother could keep.
“I think it’s pretty obvious how things are looking in the state, and it’s a little bit harrowing.” By wearing masks, “at least we’re two less people that will get it,” he added.