The countdown to summer has officially begun: Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday that all eight NYC public beaches maintained by the city Parks Department will be open for swimming starting Memorial Day Weekend, and all 48 public pools will be open as of June 26th.
"Grab your towel and pack your sunscreen because summer is just around the corner and our beaches and pools will be back," de Blasio declared today.
The usual COVID safety restrictions, including required masks and social distancing guidelines, will be in place at beaches and pools just as they are in other outdoor areas of the city. But the mayor noted that things may change as more of the city gets vaccinated this summer.
"I think things are evolving, as more people get vaccinated, I do think that's going to start to drive down the case count for sure," de Blasio said at a press conference this morning. "I won't be surprised if over the course of the summer there's ways of doing things differently and giving people a little more freedom. The rules in place that the state set for last summer continue, I think that's smart for now. But we still have a ways to go until beaches and pools open...and if things continue to improve, hopefully we can relax some of those rules."
It was almost exactly a year ago this week that it was reported the Parks Department had begun putting together plans "for scenarios including full and partial closure" of beaches; all 14 miles of NYC public beaches were indeed closed at the start of the 2020 summer season to avoid large gatherings. Public beaches were finally reopened last summer on July 1st, while public pools started to reopen at reduced capacity a dozen or so at a time throughout the months of July and August.
As the CDC and other health experts have stated, transmission is far less risky in outdoor settings than it is in indoor settings, but mask-wearing and social distancing is still recommended.
The mayor was also asked this morning whether the city has any plans to bring back dumpster pools—essentially makeshift urban swimming holes located inside repurposed, filtered dumpsters—this summer at Open Streets locations.
"I think that's a great thing for us to look at, because we want to maximize outdoor summer options," de Blasio said. "Having the outdoor public pools back is going to be so important, having the beaches back, Open Streets, Open Restaurants, cultural events outdoors, you're going to have a lot going on, but it's a big city. We can get the most out of Open Streets as we want to, we're certainly going to look at that option and see if that's something we can do as well. I want folks to really be able to enjoy the outdoors in NYC this summer."
This week, mayoral candidate and NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer also endorsed two plans similar to dumpster pools including "pop-up pools," which he defines as "small, affordable swimming pools that can be dropped into vacant lots in any neighborhood," and “+ Pools,” which he says are "large floating pools that would sit in NYC waterways and filter water to create safe swimming environments."
And if you're in the market for the perfect towel for visiting a local beach, the Parks Department is still selling the social distancing towel the mayor is showing off in the tweet below.
