Over at Slate, Henry Grabar has a good piece pointing out how misguided it is to close outdoor spaces — “beaches across Southern California, the Lake Michigan waterfront in Chicago, and the National Arboretum in D.C.” — that can easily be enjoyed while keeping a safe distance from others.
COVID-19 doesn’t even seem to spread outdoors all that much to begin with. If you want to have capacity limits on places that become crowded, fine. And have people wear masks if it’s inevitable they’ll come within six feet of each other once in a while, as we do in indoor places like grocery stores. But low-risk outdoor activities are a crucial pressure-release valve on the cabin fever we’re all developing.