'Play At Your Own Risk': Bucks County Playgrounds Cleared To Reopen But Guidelines Say Kids Must Practice Social Distancing
PERKASIE BOROUGH, Pa. (CBS) -- Being quarantined at home is a struggle for kids. They want to run around, play on the swings and go on the slide.
In Bucks County, playgrounds can reopen, but the decision to play comes with a warning.
For some parents, it will be like a ribbon-cutting to see the yellow tape surrounding playgrounds taken down.
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In Bucks County, municipalities now have that option.
Adhered directly to the jungle gym at Kulp Park in Perkasie Borough, a sign welcomes families back to play but warns that safety guidelines must be followed.
"I think it was well past time for places to start doing this. I'm honestly really surprised and happy with how Bucks County has handled this," said Josh Hogan.
Hogan has been an active part of the Playground Brigade in Bucks County, an effort to reopen play areas for kids amid pandemic-related closures.
"Kids have now been locked away for 10 weeks. It's not just about running and playing and getting exercise and being in the sun, but it's also social interaction," Hogan said.
Social interaction is tricky, though. The county guidelines include social distancing but Hogan says with kids, that's just not realistic.
According to a county spokesperson, an advisory was issued this week giving municipalities the ability to decide whether to open up their jungle gyms or not.
In Lower Bucks, multiple playgrounds were still clearly off-limits.
While the county isn't expected to move into the "yellow" phase of reopening until next Friday, the county says that the power to open local government properties is theirs.
Back in Perkasie, the borough notes that their playgrounds are high-contact and not sanitized adding, "play at your own risk."