COVID Shutdown: 'Disappointed' Marin Parents Take Kids On Last Trip To A Playground For 2020
LARKSPUR (KPIX) - With less than 24 hours before Marin County joins the Bay Area shut down, many parents made their last trip of 2020 to a playground with their children on Monday. Some worry this latest lockdown is going too far.
At Piper Park in Larkspur, the signs and the yellow tape were already up, before playgrounds officially close at noon, on Tuesday.
Randy Rebarber, a father of a 2 year old says he is, "Upset, angry, disappointed for all these kids."
The talk among parents was how playgrounds will be off limits for the second time this year.
"I was devastated. These kids love coming out here," Gerald Brown adds. "It's one of the few things they could do right now."
"I really like it. It's super fun," his daughter Aria Brown says.
Marin joins four other counties to reinstate a stay home order before Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity drops below 15 percent. That means activities like outdoor dining and playgrounds will shut down for the rest of the year.
"This was her only outlet. This was all she had," Rebarber says.
Gerald Brown has his concerns about the impacts closing may really have on COVID-19 spread.
"It is kind of fearful that people might end up playing more inside getting together with groups," says Brown.
Some parents are also skeptical about the role outdoor playgrounds play in spreading the virus.
The Centers of Disease Control says surfaces are not the main way of transmission of COVID. Until they get data to prove otherwise, a few plan on defying the new orders.
"We come to places like this and try to show him how many babies and other kids there are in the world and they're going to shut that down," says Isaac Lappert. "What are we going to do? We are going to keep on coming here. We're going to be jumping over the fence then. Guys like me will be hopping the fence with their kids."
Marin County released the very latest statistics on hospitalizations Monday night. It sits at 24 percent ICU capacity. The stay home order in Marin will last through January 4.