THE EDITOR: I was disappointed last week when I heard the press conference. On the subject of the beaches, again, there will be a move from full restriction to full reopening. At a later, non-specified date. How about a little bit of planning and subtlety even if it takes some effort?
I know businesses want a full house and so do politicians of all parties. But here I am talking about offering a little more quality of life for the people who like the beach.
So it is difficult to actively control crowds at beaches.
How about passive controls? For those many beaches that are mostly accessed by car the number of parking spaces could easily be reduced. It is a simple matter then to tune the capacity to 20 per cent, 40 per cent or 60 per cent or more. according to the stage of the pandemic. Also, if the number of infections increases just reduce the parking capacity.
On the subject of limited schedule. just limit beach openings to weekdays only. no weekends. no holidays. Or Monday-Thursday.
Keep physical distancing measures. And provide some bathrooms and showers strategically distributed to avoid crowds.
And where access is controlled just limit the capacity, but keep track of the number of cars leaving.
Finally to avoid rushes a beach-access app or website could be useful to inform people which beaches nearby are near full capacity or uncrowded. And which ones are closed.
Progressive reopening and flexibility are the key to success.
Thierry Ruidant
via e-mail
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