Westchester Opens 2 Beaches For Memorial Day Weekend

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — The beaches at Playland Park and Croton Point Park will be open with restrictions over Memorial Day weekend, Westchester County Executive George Latimer announced Monday.

Latimer said there will be a strong staff presence to enforce the restrictions necessary because of the new coronavirus pandemic, including limiting visitors to 50 percent capacity, social distancing and the wearing of masks.

If things go well Friday through Monday, then the two beaches could stay open for the summer, Latimer said.

"Whether we keep them open will depend on how well we manage the weekend," he said, adding that with the weather getting nicer, providing opportunities for people to get outside is essential, and can be done safely — as opening golf courses and launching Bicycle Sundays showed.

He acknowledged a potential issue with the large parking lot at Playland Beach, specially if New York City does not open its beaches. SEE: NYC Beaches Will Not Open For Memorial Day Weekend, Mayor Says

Playland Amusement Park itself will not open until at least July 20, he said, because it would be very difficult to enforce social distancing, much less sanitize every ride after each use.

In other bad news, the annual Fourth of July fireworks displays at Playland and Kensico Dam Park are canceled.

"That's a disappointment to a lot of folks," he said.

No decision yet has been made on the county's pools, but social distancing is the big issue there, specially for children.

Latimer spoke at Yonkers City Hall after delivering masks to houses of worship in the city for distribution to residents. Mayor Mike Spano said hospitals in the city, which was hard-hit by COVID-19, are less stressed than at the outbreak's peak. They're celebrating the recent release of the 750th patient, a man who had recovered despite 21 days on a ventilator, he said.

The outbreak continues its decline countywide, Latimer said, and while the state's metrics are laudable, any single indicator that ties the whole region to another 14 days without opening up is unfair.

As of Saturday, the Mid-Hudson region still had more hospital deaths and new hospitalizations than allowed, and still didn't have enough tracers to track new infections, according to the state's regional monitoring dashboard.