The danger of self-isolating from COVID-19 on public lands
Gateway communities grow wary of out-of-town crowds.
Ski resorts have shuttered. Disneyland is closed. Professional sports have been cancelled. For most of the United States, social events and attractions ranging from museum visits to music festivals have vanished. But despite nationwide warnings that people should stay at home and limit unnecessary outings, national parks and monuments have, for the most part, remained open.
As a result, visitors desperate for activity and distraction have flooded into Moab, Utah, the gateway to Arches National Park. “We had crowds of people that felt like peak summertime,” said Ashley Kumburis, who manages a rafting and jeep tour outfitter that’s still open. “If you didn’t know this contagious virus was spreading, you would think it was a regular summer day in Moab.”
On March 16, doctors from Moab Regional Hospital sent a letter to Gov. Gary Herbert, R, asking for help. “We are writing this letter to implore you to shut down all non-essential business service in Moab,” it reads. Citing a lack of hospital beds and no local intensive care unit — at a time when lodging for the following weekend was estimated to be at between 75–95% capacity — officials were concerned that “tourism would drive the spread” of COVID-19. Within a few hours, the Southeast Utah Health Department issued an order closing restaurants and lodging, and camping on both public and private land to outside visitors.
Yet Arches National Park, which draws over 1.5 million visitors in an average year, remains open. And as of Wednesday, national parks across the country that are still open are now free. “This small step makes it a little easier for the American public to enjoy the outdoors in our incredible National Parks,” Interior Secretary David Bernhardt stated in a press release.
For people around the country, this is a confusing message. After hearing that outdoor spaces are the safest areas to avoid the spread of COVID-19, many are venturing out, seeking the sort of isolation that public lands offer. But when visitors start overwhelming gateway communities, the public lands are no longer a safe refuge.
In Moab and other tourist-based towns , the message that their backyards are still open to out-of-town visitors is making both residents and park employees fear that their communities and workplaces could become the next COVID-19 hotspot.
Friends of Cedar Mesa, a nonprofit located in Bluff, Utah, that runs a visitors center for Bears Ears National Monument, a popular climbing area, urged visitors to reconsider their travel plans. Citing a surge in camping and tourists after Moab closed itself to tourism, the group released a statement on Thursday. “This flood of visitors negatively impacts the sensitive landscape we strive to protect, but even more importantly, in a time of great uncertainty, an increase in visitation has the potential to put remote gateway communities at risk.”
Sending people to parks means they’ll use the amenities in both the parks and in nearby towns. Grocery stores in the rural West, as in the rest of the country, are struggling to stay stocked, bathroom facilities will need cleaning, and the more visitors there are, the greater chance for injuries that might need to be treated in rural hospitals — hospitals that lack the capacity to treat them.
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Jessica Kutz is an assistant editor for High Country News.
