During breaks from being cooped inside, people are flocking to Hudson County’s waterfront open spaces as oases during an uncertain time.

Liberty State Park was full of families, dogs and couples Friday, most keeping their 6-foot distance from each other and enjoying a warm spring day.

“It’s something about that fresh air that kind of helps to get through it,” said Rebecca Ferrier, who lives in the Jersey City Heights.

She has been spending two to three hours with her dogs in Liberty State Park every day, she said. That’s more time than usual despite regularly visiting the park for shoots as a wedding photographer.

“I tend to try to go when less people are there so I can really experience the freedom,” Ferrier said.

Nothing about the outdoors and parks has changed since the societal shutdown began, but people’s response to these spaces has, said Dr. Peter Economou, a cognitive behavioral therapist and the director of Rutgers University’s Master of Applied Psychology program.

“I think now maybe that people are forced to slow down, they’re now taking the time,” he said. “You don’t want to feel like you’re stuck within those walls, so people are making more of an effort to go outside.”

Economou recommends people regularly carve out time for enjoying nature or time with their family, even when society is operating normally.

“This is forcing people to do that,” he said. “I think that’s why I’ve experienced this in such a positive way.”

Friends of Liberty State Park president Sam Pesin, who has spent decades defending the land, said the park’s current use just further demonstrates its communal value.

“Liberty State Park’s open space is always priceless and precious, and its value is especially important now for people’s spiritual and emotional well-being,” Pesin said.

Faith Lau has been taking long walks with her family to the park and enjoying the spring weather. Her 5 and 8-year-old children are even going on scavenger hunts.

“We made a pitstop in a quiet little cove and we looked around and found some cracked eggs so that was a nice sign of spring and life,” she said.

Her sister in Spain lives next to a beach but cannot legally visit it under the country’s lockdown measures, she said. Though Lau has had to teach her children to stay away from the park’s other visitors, the walks have been an important break from life at home, she said.

“I think that there’s a value in having that and reconnecting with nature,” Lau said, “Especially to pull away from our screens and pull away from the anxieties and uncertainties.”