Friday morning, three mayors held a joint press conference to discuss the highly anticipated and controversial reopening of Jacksonville’s beaches.
“This is an opportunity for people to come to the beach and get some exercise a couple times a day,” Jacksonville Beach Mayor Charlie Latham said from the lifeguard station. “It’s not a sunbathing opportunity.”
The open hours, 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily, are specifically for exercise. Beach chairs, blankets, grills and coolers won’t be allowed. Exercise includes: walking, running, jogging, fishing, biking, swimming and surfing — though Latham said the latter should be done with discretion since lifeguards are limited.
Dogs are also allowed on the beach during its open hours, but must be leashed.
“The whole point of having the two periods is to break up the crowds a little bit,” Latham said. “We’re not prepared for summer hours. Open time periods were specifically set up to keep crowds from getting too large.”
Beach-goers are required to continue practicing social distancing, limit groups to 10 people or less and avoid gatherings, team sports or other group activities. The restrictions will be enforced by lifeguards, police and the Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department, Latham said.
“We don’t want to see people congregated anywhere. The most important thing, a theme from all three beaches right now, is to keep moving,” Brown said. “This isn’t a day at the beach. This is people getting out of the house doing something helping for them. If it becomes anything more than that, we’ll have to close back down.”
For out-of-town visitors, the mayors encouraged people to park in the lot on the west side of First Street and to avoid residential areas…
To read the entire article from The Florida Times-Union, click https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200417/coronavirus-beaches-reopening-lsquonot-sunbathing-opportunityrsquo