Tensions are rising among Park Service staff over how the coronavirus situation is being managed by Washington/Rebecca Latson file

Editor's note: This updates with precautions against coronavirus being taken at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Though a few more units of the National Park System were closing Sunday in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, and outwardly it was business as usual across the National Park System on Sunday, behind the scenes tensions were growing over the situation.

The official list of closures Sunday included Alcatraz Island, Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center, Lands End Lookout, the Nike Missile site, Point Bonita Lighthouse, and the Muir Woods National Monument bookstore and entrance station at Golden Gate National Recreation Area; Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument, Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, the Old Post Office Tower, and the Washington Monument. On Monday the list was to expand to include the Presidio Visitor Center, the Marin Headlands Visitor Center, and Fort Point National Historic Site, all at Golden Gate.

National Park Service officials in Washington, D.C., continued to point to the statement that their Office of Public Health was continuing to monitor the situation and was in contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as to how to move forward.

"Visitors can be  assured that  facilities and services in national parks, including lodges, restaurants, and shuttles, continue to monitor conditions and maintain high standards related to the health and wellness of  staff and visitors," read a statement on the Park Service's Public Health website. "Park and concession staff are working to maintain clean and healthy facilities in parks in accordance with CDC guidance."

However, park superintendents were said to be growing frustrated by the situation and lack of control they have over their operations. David Vela, the Park Service's deputy director who is its de facto director, told the superintendents that they don't have discretion to close facilities if they deem them to be a health hazard to visitors or employees. Guidelines sent out to superintendents from Washington stated that "all operational changes in parks (cancellations and closures) must be made through the proper NPS leadership channels."

"Political leadership puts messaging before field people," one superintendent, who asked for anonymity in discussing the politically hot issue, told the Traveler . 

If superintendents felt a closure was needed, "We must justify it with data, with science, with public health analysis, we must see if we can mitigate it, and then send it up the chain," they said. "And of course, we don't know how easy it would be to get data, we don't know how likely they're going to approve it, and we don't know how long it would take.

"So, what I'm interpretting that as, if I'm going to close the whole park, yeah, I'm going to have to do that (going through the chain of command). If I however decide that there are operational changes I can do to mitigate the risk, then I don't need approval for that, I'm going to do that. And so if that means closing the doors of a visitor center and at least trying to provide some of the visitor services that are provided in a visitor center some other way, that could be rangers standing outside, rangers walking the parking lot, it could be roving interpretation. I feel like I have the authority to do that."

While many northern tier parks have yet to fully exit winter and open for the summer season, those across the southern half of the nation are in full operational mode. With college spring breaks being extended and school systems shutting down, there could be a rising tide of visitation to those parks. While at least one NPS regional office was allowing its staff to work remotely, the same can't be said of rangers and staff who use elevators to bring visitors into caves, guide climbs up lighthouses, or lead tours into places such as Balcony House at Mesa Verde National Park.

Against those realities, messaging on how to deal with the public coming down from Park Service headquarters was embarrassing to some field staff.

"There is widespread anger and frustration," the Traveler was told. "I"m just speculating, but I think over the next several days there's going to be some revolts."

Lacking so far from the headquarters "is any systematic guidance. It's totally up to how far the superintendent wants to stick his or her neck out. It's just ridiculous. I have never been so appalled at the lack of leadership. And I'm blaming this on the politicos" in the Interior Department who are calling the shots.

In a comment left on the Traveler, a reader who identified himself as a shuttle bus driver on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park wrote that, "I can tell you that the buses are crowded, creating a breeding ground for viruses from all over the world. The Park Service has not approached us with any recommendations or assistance for keeping our drivers safe. Our company, under the guidance and supervision of our operations manager, has made the decision to limit the number of passengers to seated only. Honestly, not enough. I can just about guarantee we've already had infected individuals on board. The park needs to show the same concern and good judgment towards its employees and residents that has been shown by other entities with far less volume. If the park won't close, then shuttle bus operations need to be shut down! "

At Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina, park officials were taking a number of measures to reduce the threat of coronavirus in the park. Visitors centers were to be "fogged" Saturday and Sunday nights "with an approved chemical which will be capable of reaching cracks and crevices and thoroughly decontaminating the building of the virus;" the superintendent had OKed the closure of park museums and the movie in the visitors centers "to limit the amount of time the visitors are lingering in the building;" they were thinking of setting up a rope cordon to keep visitors from "leaning on the desk or over the area, or, just maintaining a polite 'stand back' approach when in direct contact;" directing concessionaires to ensure they had an adequate supply of cleaning and sanitation supplies available; and locking the visitor center bathrooms from 8 p.m.-7 a.m. to prevent the theft of toilet paper and had sanitizer.

What remains to be seen is whether the pandemic and the risks it poses for those who work closely with the public affects parks' ability to hire seasonals for the summer.

The same could be an issue for concessionaires. For now, those companies that operate lodges and restaurants in the parks are following CDC guidelines in dealing with customers, though some concessionaires were said to be "scared" about the situation.

Delaware North Parks and Resorts, which operates in or near Grand Canyon National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, Olympic National Park, and Shenandoah National Park, told the Traveler on Friday that they were "(E)xpanding sanitizing protocols and bolstering cleaning services throughout our operations; placing hand sanitizer stations at locations for use by guests and employees; posting notifications for our employees on the importance of handwashing; and advising associates who feel sick to remain at home."

Calls to the three other major park concessionaires -- Xanterra Parks & Resorts, Aramark, and Forever Resorts -- have not been returned. 

Xanterra President and CEO Andrew Todd did post a message on his company's website in which he said, "(A)ll of our national park lodges, hotels and Grand Canyon Railway operated by Xanterra have instituted round-the-clock extra cleaning for all public areas and have made alcohol-based hand sanitizers available for all guests."

Todd did not specifically address the question of whether Xanterra, which operates lodges in Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Crater Lake, Death Valley, Glacier, and Zion, would revise its cancellation guidelines for visitors who decide at the last-minute to postpone their national park trip. Park Service officials in Washington said "(I)t is up to each concessioner to decide to waive cancellation fees based on whether they think it is a good business/socially responsible policy." 

Former National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis, who retired at the end of the Obama administration in January 2017, said Sunday that if he was in Vela's position he would weigh heavily on the advice of the Park Service's health professionals on how to deal with the coronavirus crisis.

"Their advice on whether or not to keep parks open would be essential," Jarvis told the Traveler. "Second, I would stand up the SSG, the Strategic Sciences Group, the science in crisis team Dr. Gary Machlis and I established first with the Gulf Oil spill and used during Hurricane Katrina. The SSG would help us understand the cascading consequences of the spread of the virus in the NPS and surrounding communities. I would also stand up the NPS All Risk Team with some of our top people to start emergency preparations for a potential outbreak in a park. 

"If the advice of these three entities were to close, along with the senior leadership team of career NPS (not politicals) then that's what I would do," he added. "If they recommended keep them open with some restrictions, my inclination would be to leave the parks open, but close all visitor centers and other places where the public congregate such as historic homes, caverns, bus tours, evening programs, walks and talks, etc. I would advise employees to take sick leave and stay home with the slightest sniffle, but otherwise come to work with all the precautions of hand washing, distance and support for each other.  As for the concessioners, I would leave it up to them to make a decision of whether to stay open or close, unless the park itself was closed."

In the parks, staff was doing its best under the conditions, the Traveler was told.

"It's a lot like the (2019 government shutdown), but at least we weren't worried about our health then," a superintendent said. "The bottom line on all this, the people in the Service care deeply. We are trying within our powers that we have to protect our people. Obviously nobody knows exactly what to do, but the idea that the parks are more important to the public than they are to the employees and to health, that is just appalling. Just make sure you blame the politicos for that, not the staff. I haven't heard anyone who is a Park Service employee express anything like that, and they wouldn't."