Editor's note: This updates with the decision to close the campgrounds at Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks at noon Tuesday.
A regional stay-at-home order issued in California in a bid to slow the spread of Covid-19 has led to the closure of campgrounds and overnight stays in some national parks in the state.
"While the California regional stay home order is in effect, the park is only open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.," Yosemite National Park officials announced on their website. "Overnight stays are prohibited and the park is closed from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. Hotels and campgrounds are closed. Wilderness permits are not available. While the wilderness (including big wall climbing) is open, overnight stays in wilderness (including on big walls) is prohibited."
While outdoor activities such as day hiking, daytime rock climbing, bicycling, and sightseeing were being allowed, visitors needed to exit the park at 5 p.m., Yosemite staff added in a release.
"Yosemite National Park is working closely with officials from Mariposa County Public Health and the California Department of Public Health to implement California's regional Stay Home order. Consistent with the governor’s order, these temporary restrictions will remain in effect until local conditions change," it said.
Down state at Joshua Tree National Park the campgrounds, which last week were readying for the busy season, also were closed for overnight stays. "A section of Indian Cove and Black Rock Campgrounds will remain open to hikers, but not to campers," a park release said.
Additionally shut down at Joshua Tree were:
- All park ranger programs
- All fires including campfires are prohibited at this time
- Special Use Permits: limited
- Commercial Services: essential services only
- Museum and exhibit portions will be temporarily closed in the following facilities
- Oasis of Mara Visitor Center, bookstore and information desk remain open
- Joshua Tree Visitor Center, bookstore and information desk remain open
- Cottonwood Visitor Center, bookstore and information desk remain open
- Black Rock Nature Center, bookstore and information desk remain open
Unlike Yosemite, though, backpacking was still being permitted in Joshua Tree.
At Sequoia National Park, all services at Wuksachi Lodge were closed until December 26. In neighboring Kings Canyon National Park, Grant Grove Market remained open with limits on occupancy. John Muir Lodge and Grant Grove Restaurant were closed.
While the Potwisha Campground at Sequoia, which requires advance reservations, and the Azalea Campground, a walk-in campground at Grant Grove in Kings Canyon, had been open, they are to close at noon Tuesday at least through December 28.
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Comments
I see, the virus doesn't come out until 5pm. What safer place could one be than out in the wilderness by themselves?
Ugh, people who take the hours of operation and try to turn them into a witty joke about the virus are the worst.
Unfortunately George, it is no joke. It highlights the total lack of sense that is going into these mandates.
You got that right. Zero sense
These mandates seem very sensible to me. As if the current danger level isn't high enough already, there are two potential future dangers of letting this virus spread under any conditions at all.
First, as virus numbers and the number of individual infected hosts increase so do the opportunities for the virus to mutate, with each such opportunity giving it a new chance to mutate into something worse. Given that fact, mask mandates, stay-at-home orders, and any other requirements that limit the number of infected hosts make perfect sense to many of us.
But, second, it's also basic epidemiology that, as the diversity of different types of hosts the virus occupies increases, this also provides conditions that can encourage mutation, selection, and further evolution, again very possibly resulting in something worse. We've already seen this with a seemingly endless list of pathogens, swine flu, bird flu, lyme disease, malaria, ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers, CWD, hantavirus, tuberculosis, bubonic plague and other maladies carried by fleas and ticks, SARS, MERS, and so many others. This specific strain of coronavirus has been known, from the start, to jump from species to species, with an evolution of its capabilities with most of those jumps. The "custom and culture" of tolerating wildlife wet markets in Asia has already allowed, if not encouraged, it to go through bats, at least a couple of species of pangolins, dogs in Hong Kong, and various members of the cat family. It has since jumped over to mink in numerous fur farms in Europe and several states here in America. That mutation appears so highly dangerous that millions of dollars of fur and furbearing stocks have already been destroyed in order to keep it from spreading. There is no evidence to assume it can't or hasn't already jumped to rodents, lagomorphs, wild canines, wild felines, bears, or, given that we already know it can infect mink, any other of the Mustelidae.
So, based on the science we already have available, why would officials be reluctant to have people out in the wilderness by themselves during this pandemic? Well, given that many, if not most, infected humans are partially or even fully asymtomatic, there is a remote risk that an infected, but unaware, carrier could actually spread the virus to any wildlife they might encounter or that might come into contact with their litter or wastes. After all, sewage is a great way to detect coronavirus in a community. Limiting the number and contacts involved in our parks might be sensible, not just to protect any individual animal, but to prevent a spread through the wildlife communities, a spread that might offer opportunities for the further mutation and evolution of the virus.
So, given what some of us pretend to know about wildlife and wild places, why might officials want to disallow overnight camping in these areas and even close these areas from sunset to sunrise? Well, what do humans do when they camp overnight? They cook and eat and relieve themselves and these activities could result in potentially infected wastes that attract wildlife. Why are these areas closed to even hiking from sunset to sunrise? Well, when does wildlife come out and feel comfortable coming closer to humans and their litter and wastes, humans and human litter and wastes that could be infected? Even a few hours between the time those infected humans pass through and leave their infected litter and wastes behind could help diminish the spread. Are you seeing why these restrictions might make sense?
Let's see, Newsome will allow croud protests with social distancing and face mask because it it protected by the first amendment ..... but people going to Joshua Tree NP can't camp overnight !! Really !! At over 4000 ft altitude and 200+ days of year of pure sunshine days, the UV light from the sun will kill the Corona virus in less than 30 minutes. Every day the COVID-19 in the desert is cleansed constantly by the sun. OK, the pit toilets get no UV but are cleaned several times a day. Plus the Corona virus RNA breaks down in less than 4 days maximum. Granted December to April is part of the peak season in Joshua Tree, but people still came every day in 2020. The hypocracy is that, if there was so much concern, why wasn't the campgrounds closed all year?
And Humphrey, your'e a bit over the top, You seem a bit too much concerned for the wildlife and looking down upon Human occupation on this planet.
Gosh, Larry P, I don't usually get responses from you guys that contain so many sentences. So, I guess I'll just try to start from the top and work my way down to the level of your accusative conclusion. First, I believe you might have meant Governor Newsom when you referred to "Newsome" in that first volley of yours; let me know if I'm mistaken. And, it's actually a "crowd" of protesters rather than a "croud" of them. A "crowd" is perhaps what you meant.
Also, it's "coronavirus" and, contrary to what some rightwingers were claiming earlier this year, there's really no connection between it and either Mexico or the beer. Although I only did an admittedly quick search, I couldn't find any peer reviewed science indicating that "less than 30 minutes" of "UV light" at the intensity found in normal sunshine will kill it. Speaking of hypocrisy, we should all be responsible and careful to avoid spreading misinformation that might lead anyone to get seriously ill and, technically speaking, "hypocrisy" would be the proper term, Larry, with "hypocracy" being a misspelling. Also, when referring to "campgrounds" in plural rather than to a single campground, it's actually proper to use the plural "weren't" rather than asking "why wasn't the campgrounds closed all year?"
As far as accusing me of being "a bit over the top," that's a matter of education and viewpoint. But, if you're going to make that accusation, the proper spelling would be "you're" rather than "your'e" and there should be a period ending that sentence rather than a comma.
Larry, you conclude by accusing me of being "a bit too much concerned for the wildlife" and I admit that I am concerned about wildlife. Being concerned about wildlife is part of being a genuine supporter of our national parks and the founding ideas behind them rather than simply being another highly vocal, politically motivated, poseur, of which we now have so many.
However, my concern for the wildlife is also based on another incontrovertible fact. Once a pathogen, especially a pathogen that has already proven able to readily jump from one species to another, spreads into the wildlife populations, it can easily become a serious chronic public health problem for what you so whimsically call the "Human occupation on this planet." Again, we've already seen this with a seemingly endless list of pathogens, swine flu, bird flu, lyme disease, malaria, ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers, CWD, hantavirus, tuberculosis, bubonic plague and other maladies carried by fleas and ticks, SARS, MERS, and so many others. And, after all, if my concern for the "Human occupation on this planet" wasn't strong enough for me to place it above some selfish personal desire to freely roam the countryside in a time of pandemic, I might legitimately be accused of "hypocrisy" ...or "hypocracy" as you might call it.