BEVERLY, MASS. (WHDH) - With temperatures on the rise, beachgoers rushed the shore in Beverly Wednesday, leaving city officials scratching their heads on how to contain the crowds.
Mayor Michael Cahill told 7NEWS a group of high schoolers were gathered on a narrow stretch of Rice Beach and not observing social distancing guidelines.
Police were called in to break up the large crowds that gathered to try and beat the heat.
The officers told everyone to be on their way after educating them on the dangers involved in their actions.
“We have been and continue to work to determine how best to protect our community while providing access to our public beaches, all of which are very limited in size,” Cahill said in a statement. “Hopefully, we will land on a good strategy – we all want to enjoy the good weather. We want our teens to be able to go to the beach, but they need to do so safely, given the threat the novel coronavirus-19 continues to pose.”
“It was really crowded here earlier,” resident Jack Dean said. “There’s beach over there and beach over here, plenty of room for everybody.”
Dean has lived nearby for several years and urges people to follow the rules so as not to ruin everyone’s newfound freedom.
Signs are posted at the entrance to the park reminding everyone to maintain 6 feet of distance.
There are even signs directing people which direction to walk.
By the afternoon, everyone appeared to be giving themselves plenty of space.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)