Sidney Beckman simply ran under the yellow caution tape around the playground equipment and flopped her small body over the swing.
The 2-year-old tried to open the gate blocking a large green slide at Ersanderson Park on Rdondo Beach, but his dad pulled it off – he tried to explain that the playground was closed. They joked that they would shine “under the shadow of darkness.”
“Look at him! It’s very sad, “said Zachary Beckmann, smiling as she watched the small act unfold.
But turning the playground into a no-fun zone angered the 38-year-old father in such a way that his laughter could be denied.
Los Angeles County closed outdoor public playgrounds this week because of an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases. Confused by official orders for many parents – playground and personal education closed but malls open for business and Filled with shoppers – a line of sandboxes has been crossed.
“Parents are really taking effect in all of this,” Beckman said. “I understand the need for safety, but the inconsistencies and lack of logic are very frustrating.”
A few feet away, three adults played on a tennis court, which remained open. No one was wearing a mask.
Nine months of boring, many California people have entered the “why is it closed-when-it is open” phase of the epidemic.
And as new restrictions apply, those who have followed the rules say they are always finding it more difficult to take orders from politicians who do not always follow his advice.
Angry parents pointed to the presence of Gov. Gavin News at a birthday dinner at a French laundry in the Napa Valley, even though he was warning against collecting Thanksgiving dinner; LA County Supervisor Sheila Cuewell dined out hours after voting to support a ban on outdoor dining in Santa Monica; And state legislators flew to Hawaii last month to take Xzumi with interest groups, while health officials frustrated the trip.
“The economic inequality of how they enforce the rules is just obscene,” Beckman said. “It’s clear that California is being run not by people with families but by the rich. Before the playground they opened the bar – it how is that? ”
Many people smoke because of the county’s decisions to close outdoor public playgrounds and ban outdoor dining, including outdoor ping malls, tattoo and massage parlors and hair salons.
While children’s jungle gyms and monkey lanes are considered too dangerous, tennis courts, golf courses, beaches, skate parks and hiking trails are still open. So are outdoor gym classes with sweaty adults.
Playgrounds have emerged as the epicenter of anger. The county has not publicly linked the coronavirus outbreak to the playgrounds, which closed in March and could not reopen until the first week of October. Playgrounds are open in schools and day-care.
“I know that the playground, for a lot of people, is not really well understood and [their closure] “It again creates a lot of problems for families,” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer admitted this week.
Margaret Foss, who walks several times a week at the Marg News-Sherman Oaks Recreation Center, said the park is always crowded with adult exercise classes and people playing soccer and basketball, with a few masks in sight.
“Are they closing restaurants but letting people go out in public without safety?” She said. “Soccer is a contact sport. Basketball .l is a contact game. It’s weird. ”
The new restrictions come as officials are scrambling to increase the number of COVID-19 cases during the holiday season, rekindling fears about how the state’s healthcare system will handle the control of new patients.
Still, the rules are not as serious as they were at the beginning of the epidemic, when non-industrial businesses were shut down – along with hiking trails and beaches.
Ferrer said health officials went “several days ahead” on how to handle reports from local parks about crowds, children playing without masks and difficulty in sanitizing playground equipment before issuing the latest rules.
Crowds are being seen in malls and shopping centers despite capacity limits. Above, Black Friday Shoppers at Citadel Outlets in Commerce on November 27th.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Tara Kirk Cell, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, which focuses on risk communication and misinformation during epidemics, said health officials “should be prepared for a good answer as to why each of these steps should be taken” and Science.
“When there are too many restrictions and people can’t understand and see the cause, it can stop them from listening together,” Cell said. “Faith – once he’s gone, he’s gone for good. We need to communicate public health better over the next few months as we get vaccinated. “
Regarding the closure of the playground, he said, officials must remember that parents and children “need some kind of outlet.”
In a phone interview, sales children, ages 4 and 6, can be heard playing in the background. She and her husband both now work from home in Baltimore and the children virtually go to school. They don’t have a yard, so they go to the playground every day, in masks, to get them off their screens.
In mid-September, Two dozen legislators Pressing News in a letter to reopen the public sector grounds, to declare their “indefinite closure” and disproportionate losses to low-income communities with few yards. They reopened two weeks later.
At the Irwin “Magic” Johnson Recreation Field in South LA this week, Oswaldo Romero entertained his 2-year-old daughter, Valeria, with a skateboard and chased her through the grass. Romero, 25, who lives in Watts and drives overnight for an elevator, said he has no yards and was disappointed that both the public playground and the McDonald’s were closed.
“I need a place to take my baby,” he said. “She is OK. She needs to play. ”
Sydney Beckman, Nov. 2, 30. Playing on a swing at Anderson Park on Redondo Beach on the 30th.
(Haley Branson-Pots / Los Angeles Times)
Osvaldo said his wife’s aunt fell ill with COVID-19 earlier this year, but recovered two weeks later. While he said he understands concerns about the virus, he thinks authorities are “overstating it with security measures” and that “there is no reason to close areas for children.”
The 37-year-old sales partner at Westfield Santa Anita in Arcadia said she was sad to see so many children at the mall. The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the mall appears to have exceeded 25% of its capacity (up to this week, when that capacity was reduced to 20%), and she had about it. Tried to contact the county health department. She worked Black Friday; The parking lot was full.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” she said. “You close the parks outside, where the outside is, but you want to keep the malls open inside the house? Open schools if you want to open malls and allow people to shop. … It’s all about money. “
Stores limit customers, but corridors are jammed with people with long lines. Tables and chairs have moved, but people are flocking around to eat and drink without masks.
In Highland Park, television 1-year-old television writer Laura Mannino had a hard time explaining to her son of the year as he watched as “police tapes cover the place where he used to attend birthday parties and where he went everywhere. Day. ”
Harry, who attends virtually Lassus Kindergarten, thought the coronavirus only lived on playground devices because it was the only thing that pulled him off the rope. When his favorite playground finally reopened, he did very well with his mom’s new rules: wear a mask. Clean your hands before and after playing. Do not crowd the tube slide with other children.
“If our state and city and county can put a large number of test sites and programs, we can provide basic information on playground safety messages,” Mannino said. “People say the playground is a high-touch field. Then clear the playground. The product at the store is high touch; We don’t see the county putting police tape around the watermelon. ”
In her Facebook group for Moms, the parents have vented their anger over recent decisions.
“We’re honest,” Mannino said. “We follow the rules. But I am increasingly seeing parents frustrated. They are taking it personally because we are really bored. ”
Echoing the voices of other parents in this week’s interview, he added: “Let my child swing.”
