UPDATE March 18, 2020: Since I first published this post five days ago, many things have changed. Several parks have closed visitor facilities and activities, such as visitor centers, lodges, ranger-led tours, museums and campgrounds.
Contents
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) and America’s National Parks
- Does the Coronavirus Affect Access to America’s National Parks?
- How to Protect Yourself and Others Against the Coronavirus?
- Can I Visit National Parks During This COVID-19 Epidemic?
- National Park Service Temporarily Waives All Entrance Fees
- Find a National Park Near You
As the United States and the rest of the world continue to grapple with the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, I thought it would be useful to keep you informed about the situation in America’s national parks.
With the rapid, exponential even, increase of coronavirus cases in the U.S., you might wonder what exactly you should do.
Are the national parks safe places to go during this coronavirus outbreak? Are they even open?
While I don’t pretend to be an expert on this matter—far from it, in fact—I am able to relay some information from official organizations and institutions.
For detailed information, official instructions and guidelines, I recommend that you follow the updates from the appropriate authorities. The best and most up-to-date information about COVID-19 is available on these websites:
As of March 18, 2020, the national parks in America are still open and accessible to the public.
Together with other governmental departments and offices, the National Park Service (NPS) Office of Public Health continues to actively monitor the situation and provide updates whenever necessary.
You can find the NPS Public Health Update here.
In their coronavirus update, the National Park Service says that:
Visitors can be assured that facilities in national parks, including lodges and restaurants, continue to monitor conditions and maintain high standards related to the health and wellness of staff and visitors. Park and concession staff are working to maintain clean and healthy facilities in parks in accordance with CDC guidance.
To lower your risk of contracting the coronavirus and, subsequently, infecting others, you should follow these guidelines wherever you are or go, including the national parks:
- Wash your hands regularly with water and soap. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds and rinse thoroughly.
- If you don’t have access to water and soap, you can use a hand sanitizer that has 60-95% alcohol. However, it’s important to know that this is a temporary and less-effective measure and you should still wash and rinse your hands with soap as soon as possible afterward.
- Dirty hands should be washed with water and soap instead of hand sanitizer.
- Avoid touching your face, specifically your eyes, nose and mouth.
- Sneeze, blow your nose and cough in a paper tissue and discard it right away. If those aren’t available, sneeze or cough while covering your nose and mouth with your upper arm.
- Wash your hands after going to the bathroom, before eating, after blowing your nose, sneezing or coughing.
- Disinfect often-used surfaces and objects, including but not limited to keys, wallets, phones, doorknobs,… Common household cleaning products from Lysol or Clorox are recommended.
- Stay at least 3 feet (1 meter) from other people.
- Avoid contact with people who are sick.
- If you feel sick yourself, stay home!
Can I Visit National Parks During This COVID-19 Epidemic?
Yes, absolutely! As I mentioned above, no national parks have been closed because of the coronavirus as of March 18.
However, there are other National Park Service sites that have closed to the public, including the Washington Monument and parts of Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
See this lengthy overview of facility closures and alerts across all National Park Service units.
It’s important to stay active and healthy in these uncertain times. And fresh air, outdoor activities and immersion in nature happen to be the absolute perfect things to maintain, even improve, both your mental and physical health.
After all, many U.S. national parks are rather wild places and have a very low density of people.
I’d even go as far as to say that the national parks are among the best places to be during this coronavirus epidemic.
National Park Service Temporarily Waives All Entrance Fees
The Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt seems to agree with that notion.
According to a press release on March 18, he has “directed the National Park Service to temporarily waive all park entrance fees until further notice.” He says:
This small step makes it a little easier for the American public to enjoy the outdoors in our incredible National Parks. Our vast public lands that are overseen by the Department offer special outdoor experiences to recreate, embrace nature and implement some social distancing.
I wholeheartedly support this decision to not only keep the parks open, but to make them freely accessible to everyone.
It is, however, absolutely critical that visitors keep adhering to the CDC guidelines, which I’ve outlined above.
Remember that many major cities in the U.S. are close to at least one spectacular national park. You most likely don’t have to drive that far for a getaway in nature.
So, why don’t you skip that concert or sports game you’d planned—most will be cancelled or postponed anyway—and visit a national park near you?
Find a National Park Near You
Leave those urban disease-spreading crowds for a day, weekend or even week, and spend some time outdoors. It’s one of the best things you can do right now.
Here are some amazing national parks near several major American cities:
- National Parks near Seattle, Washington
- National Parks near Portland, Oregon
- National Parks near San Francisco, California
- National Parks near Los Angeles, California
- National Parks near San Diego, California
- National Parks near Las Vegas, Nevada
- National Parks near Denver, Colorado
- National Parks near Houston, Texas
- National Parks near Miami, Florida
For more information about the effect the coronavirus (COVID-19) has on the management and operations of U.S. national parks, I recommended following the news page of National Parks Traveler, which is updated daily.
Additionally, you can also find updates and news about coronavirus-related national park closures on the NPS news releases page.
I will update this post as new information comes along, instructions are given and/or measures are taken. In the meantime, please stay safe and use common sense.