Beaches in a Florida city that were abruptly closed because of huge weekend crowds will reopen Wednesday with strict new rules in the wake of the social-distancing fail.
“We should have been stricter when we made our first policy in closing and reopening the beaches,” Mayor Teresa Heitmann told news station Wink News.
Naples councilman Gary Price pushed for the shutdown after crowds Sunday rivaling the Fourth of July showed up for the beaches’ reopening for the first time since coronavirus lockdowns, according to news station WFLA.
“It was just packed,” Price told the station. “I mean, there were clearly way too many people for the area.”
Under new measures, the beaches will be open on workdays from sunrise to sunset, but no coolers or tents will be allowed, Wink News reported.
On weekends, the beaches will be restricted to exercise activity only from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., the outlet reported. They will open again at 5 p.m. with more lax measures to allow beachgoers to bring chairs and watch the sunset.
“I think it was a tough decision, being the incidents that we had over the weekend,” the mayor said. “And I think the council really went the extra mile in making sure we had the right policy for our citizens.”