City reopens Bedwell Bayfront Park; other recreation facilities remain closed for now

Effective 7 a.m., Saturday, May 9, the City of Menlo Park will reopen Bedwell Bayfront Park with limits on park capacity and with social distancing requirements and park monitors in place. The San Mateo County Health Officer’s shelter-in-place order remains in effect through May 31, even as some statewide rules are relaxed.

“We are excited to reopen Bedwell Bayfront Park for the benefit of our residents. It remains important for all of us to continue to follow the health officer’s order and the new safety protocols. This is for the protection of all park users and their loved ones. Help us maintain a safe environment for all so that we can keep the park open for everyone in our community,” said Mayor Cecilia Taylor.

Since the countywide and statewide stay-at-home orders went into effect, the City of Menlo Park has taken steps to slow the spread of COVID-19. Bedwell Bayfront Park was previously closed by an April 17, 2020, local order.

Visitors to Bedwell Bayfront Park are now required to maintain a distance of 6 feet from those outside their household, carry a face covering for use in the parking lot, public restrooms and when encountering others along the trails. The public restrooms will be open, but restricted to one person in the restroom at a time. Public drinking fountains remain closed. In addition, parking will be restricted to approximately half the parking lot, with every other parking spot blocked off, and no parking in unauthorized areas along the sides of the road or outside the park gates.

Most other city parks remain open to allow people space to walk, run or bike through pathways, while maintaining social distancing requirements. However, areas of outdoor recreation and facilities with high-touch equipment or any that encourage gathering, including but not limited to public basketball courts, public tennis courts, playgrounds, picnic areas, dog parks, pools and barbecue areas will remain closed for now. This also includes the skate park on the Burgess Park campus. These facilities will be evaluated as new information and guidance from the public health officer becomes available.

San Mateo County Parks reopened 13 of its 23 parks earlier this week, with similar safety protocols in place. The latest health officer order expands travel limits to recreational sites to within 10 miles (it was 5 miles previously) from an individual's place of residence. 

As part his April 29 statement, the health officer also released indicators that will be used to measure progress in containing the virus and ensuring we have the infrastructure in place to protect the community from COVID-19. These indicators will be critical to decisions in the coming weeks and months about when and how to further ease shelter-in-place restrictions. The indicators include:

• Whether the total number of cases in the community is flat or decreasing;
• Whether the number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is flat or decreasing;
• Whether there is an adequate supply of personal protective equipment for all health care workers;
• Whether we are meeting the need for testing, especially for persons in vulnerable populations or those in high-risk settings or occupations; and
• Whether we have the capacity to investigate all COVID-19 cases and trace all of their contacts, isolating those who test positive and quarantining the people who may have been exposed.

Please visit smchealth.org/coronavirus for the latest health updates.