Coronavirus image/CDC,Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAMS
National parks and their facilities remain open during the coronavirus epidemic in the United States while National Park Service officials await further guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, agency staff said Thursday.
"To help guide the National Park Service operational response to the novel (new) coronavirus (COVID-19), the NPS Office of Public Health and the U.S. Public Health Service officers assigned to the NPS are closely monitoring the situation and keeping staff informed," Park Service acting chief spokesperson Stephanie Roulett told the Traveler in an email. "They are relying on the most updated data and information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), the Office of Personnel and Management (OPM), state and local public health authorities, and coordinating with the DOI Office of Emergency Management.
"The national parks are open and facilities are maintaining continuity of operations," she added. "The NPS is focused on ensuring employees, their families, volunteers, and visitors are safe by following the most current guidance from the CDC, OPM, OEM, and other federal, state, and local health authorities."
The Park Service has been working to keep the public up-to-date on the situation via its public health website.
Representatives for Xanterra Parks & Resorts and Delaware North, two of the largest concessionaires in the National Park System with operations in places such as Yellowstone, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Sequoia, and Shenandoah national parks, did not immediately reply Thursday to emailed requests for how they were approaching the epidemic in their park lodges and restaurants.
Comments
Is the NPS totally blind on this one? Give me a break! Let's wake up folks!
We have no leadership at the top!
https://twitter.com/smithsonian/status/1238230957712343040
Are all these people in the NPS monitoring what is going on around them...becoming almost laughable.
They should shut it down now. Schools, colleges, and basically all sports are shut down. Borders are closed, and we can't even buy toilet paper. Wait...they should stay open, so we can take some of their toilet paper supplies back home
Yes, close everything! Don't rely on expert recommendations!
Yes they are blind for sure. I'm a Grand Canyon employee and we are packed! Makes no sense at all.
I think it is a good idea to remain open. I feel the preventative measures being taken are way over the top. This is getting rediculous, really. Let people be out in the open air. The disruption this has caused far exceeds the benefit. I would not be surprised if we will see an equal pandemic in mental health issues stemming from all the anxiety and depression this will create and exacerbate. There are ways to be vulnerable that have nothing to do with physical health. No one will ever bat an eye.
If you close national parks you should close airports.. at least national parks are outside and not shoulder to shoulder people ..
Do you think the trees are going to catch coronavirus? Wash your hands and leave the parks open!