Surf
Two weeks after closing them, San Clemente City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to begin reopening city beaches for exercise and surfing. An online petition signed by 2,500 people asked for the reopening of local beaches “for the physical and mental well-being” of the community.
San Clemente, CA beaches from North Beach south past Riviera Beach will open first. Residents will be able to exercise on the beaches and surfers can enjoy the ocean again.
A specific date has not been set, but officials would like to see beaches reopened by the weekend.
Beaches will be open for recreational exercise only, and not for ‘passive’ use. This means you can’t bring your cooler and lay out on a towel all day, and loitering will not be tolerated. Parking lots will also remain closed to prevent crowds congregating.
Officials were eager to make it clear that San Clemente beaches don’t include Trestles, or San O (or San Clemente State Beach). The decision to open those will be made by State Parks, a discussion that is already ongoing with the city.
There is zero evidence that the beach have ever been a vector in an flu or other pandemic outbreak
Infact, there is a good amount of data showing that surfing would actually be one of the safer activities in a pandemic.
We already knew that Sunlight kills viruses, but a recent study confirms that Sunlight quickly kills Covid-19. A moderate wind, such as an offshore, or onshore breeze, will dissipate any airborne virus making it nearly impossible to transmit. And, ocean air is usually much more humid than indoor air. Humidity has been shown to be very hostile to Covid-19. Ocean water is fairly hostile to a land based virus. And, the movement of the water currents would quickly dillute any covid-19 that enters the water.
It is safer for a person to be surfing, than it is to go to the store, or even to be at home with an essential worker, who may be asymptomatic. The more time spent away from a possible infection the lower the chances are of getting that infection. And, if a person is infected, surfing would do a pretty good job of making sure others do not get the infection.
I tend to agree with Kevin