Some counties close coastal areas to stop COVID-19 spread

The numbers in Tillamook County, Ore. tell a story: 70 miles of coastline, 25 hospital beds, 3 ICU beds and a population of 26,000 that quintuples during its busiest tourist season, which this year, started around the same time the coronavirus began to spread throughout the country.

“When all of this started happening, sort of mid-March or so, Tillamook County had zero confirmed COVID-19 cases,” Tillamook County Commissioner David Yamamoto said. “We wanted to keep it that way.”

Sandwiched between the two COVID-19 hotspots of California and Washington, the rural coastal county in northern Oregon is a popular tourist destination with hotels, motels, campgrounds and vacation rentals.

With stay-at-home restrictions throughout Oregon, California and Washington, Yamamoto said he did not expect a large number of spring breakers to visit the county. But on March 20, an influx of tourists arrived — and it only got worse.

“Our beaches were absolutely jam packed,” he said. “It was like a Fourth of July weekend.”

Following an emergency board of commissioners meeting, county officials voted to pass a resolution to close RV parks, vacation rentals, hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts. The county worked with the state and U.S. Forest Service to close county, state and federal campgrounds.

“We did all of this to protect our residents here,” Yamamoto said.

The state owns the beaches in the county, but the county owns the beach parking lots and beach access routes, he said, which were all closed after he and his fellow commissioners passed the resolution.

“We knew we had to do something,” he said. “Was it kind of a drastic measure? Yes. Was it the right thing to do? Absolutely.”

The commissioners sent sheriff’s deputies to campgrounds and RV parks to inform visitors, many with out-of-state license plates, about the closures.

“We put a note on their car or we walk out on the beach to find them and say, ‘Hey, you’re in a no parking zone,’” he said.

At this point of enforcement, the county still had no confirmed cases.

“It was very interesting by that evening of March 22,” Yamamoto said. “The vast majority of people had already left. They understood that they really shouldn’t be here in a population that has no COVID-19.”

Tillamook County is a large retirement area. A significant portion of the population are older individuals who are at a higher risk for contracting the virus. According to Yamamoto, the county lacks health infrastructure, especially in rural areas of the county.

“We don’t have the hospital beds to handle a true pandemic, so we wanted to flatten the curve,” he said.

Overall, visitors and county residents were compliant with the closures. Yamamoto said there have not been any enforcement issues. 

“The message here has to be that we appreciate your business, but right now we’re closed and putting our residents in Tillamook County first,” he said.

Other counties along the nation’s shores have also closed coastal areas to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

In Pinellas County, Fla., another popular spring break location, the board of commissioners voted to close all public beaches to ensure visitors were taking the pandemic seriously, County Administrator Barry Burton said.

Burton said the closures have been enforced through the sheriff, local police agencies and the county’s park rangers.

He added that the coastal county faced challenges when officials found many visitors from outside the state congregating throughout the county. The county voted to shut down pools, which helped eliminate large crowds, he said.

“I think we struck the right balance in trying to have people disperse and act a little bit responsibly, but it did take a little bit of time for people to go back home,” he said.

Burton said they are focusing on community education, specifically educating large groups on beaches that are disregarding social distancing practices.

“We’re trying to educate people and where we have problems, we’ll enforce it,” he said.

He said overall, the community has been cooperative.

“It’s not a question of making people miserable, it’s a question of implementing the best practices to where we can keep this from spreading throughout the community and affecting other people and causing additional problems in our communities,” Burton said.

On the east coast in South Carolina, the state’s governor issued an order closing all public access points to beaches as well as boat ramps, landings and other access points for lakes, rivers and other waterways.

County officials in Horry County, S.C., home of Myrtle Beach, put up closure signs and barriers at beach access points, adjacent beach parking lots, boat landings and boat ramps, according to Kelly Moore, public information officer for Horry County.

Moore said for county-owned parking areas, drivers who are violating the executive order are being issued tickets or getting their vehicles towed.

“We’ve seen great cooperation by county residents,” she said. “We know folks have concerns about their health and safety and they’re willing to participate to try to slow the spread of the virus.”