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.
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Comments
Close the visitor centers but not the parks altogether. People keep to themselves and spend most time in their cars.
I'm sorry but most of you posting are very delusional. Why would you close all the National Parks? I understand closing sporting events and things where people are in close quarters. When I visit the Smoky Mountains let's say I am going there to hike from miles and run into very few people. I have yet to hear that wildlife is passing on Coronavirus. What are we all supposed to do with the next however many months this lasts? Stay quorantined in our homes? If that is what you want to do so be it but PLEASE don't be ignorant to assume that millions of open acres of public land need to be closed due to a virus.
The NPS should at a minimum close Phantom Ranch in the Grand Canyon National Park. What protocol are you using to keep it germ free? My guess, SOS.
I'm glad to hear this. I'm taking my grandson to Cumberland Gap next week. We were going to go during his Spring Break, but who knows if they'll still be open in two weeks. Not going to wait around. We won't eat at restaurants on the trip. I'll pack us a picnic. He loves picnics outdoors.
what about the people working in the parks? That have to serve food, clean your rooms, sell you trinkets and work face to face with all the tourists? Should they be forced to continue working?
Leave them open!!! This is a rare opportunity for American Families to get out in the fresh air with their families, visit our beautiful treasured National Parks and avoid foreign traveler competition. Schools are now closed and flights are cheap. I was thinking of renting a couple of RVs and taking the whole family. This is the best time for well Americans to enjoy thsee resources!
Might make sense to close visitor centers et cetera, but not everything. Certainly if parks are closed but planes still flying then we would have reached the hight of absurdity. Also worth noting this will likely hugely diminish visitation, esp from out of staters, view point RVers, et cetera. In any case, closing parks would only direct more traffic into NF & BLM lands.
Leave the parks open! People need a place where they can relax, enjoy nature, and forget about "Corona Hype"