Volusia County is scaling back on restrictions for beach access.

"The beach is going to remain closed," said County Manager George Recktenwald. "However, in order to bring us a little closer to the stay-at-home measures that (Gov. Ron) DeSantis had put in place, we’re going to relax the provision and allow the essential exercises that were named in his executive order."

Recktenwald said in a phone interview Saturday that the amended rules went into effect at 1 p.m.

The new rules allow for walking, jogging, biking, surfing , fishing and limited swimming, said Recktenwald.

According to a county press release sent out a little after 1 p.m., the county emphasizes that "The beach remains closed. However, in an effort to provide an outlet for physical exercise, Volusia County has issued the Fifth Directive of Emergency Measures relaxing the prohibition of certain exercise-related activities on the beach. With neighboring Brevard County making the decision to open their beaches for physical activity, the expectation is that Volusia County will experience low numbers of non-residents visiting the beach."

Then the release went on to say what is not allowed under the new rules.

"Activities such as sunbathing, sitting in chairs, organized sports or lying on blankets and grouping of people on the beach remains prohibited," the release states. "A minimum of six-foot social distancing shall apply, and social distancing orders issued by the federal and state government must be observed. When permitted activities are complete, beachgoers are required to leave the beach."

Beach Safety staff will continue to fly the double-red flag, and beachgoers swim at their own risk and lifeguards may not be on duty. The county’s 54 Beach Safety officers will be enforcing the rules.

The speed with which the county made changes this week on first closing the beach to all activity, and then amending the beach closure to include certain activities, occurred in the span of a little over 48 hours.

On Thursday, a day after the governor issued his Safer at Home order for the state, county officials were forced to scramble to understand what, precisely, that order meant for individual counties and cities. In Volusia, that meant figuring out how the order would impact beach access.

By Thursday afternoon, Recktenwald — who the Volusia County Council unanimously appointed to make emergency decisions for the county throughout the current crisis — had decided to announce the complete closure of the beaches and all off-beach parking and parks effective 12:01 a.m. on Friday morning.

The intent, Recktenwald said, was to put a full stop to allowing the beaches to draw travelers from outside the county, including hot spots like New York and South Florida, to end unnecessary travel to and within the county, as the governor’s order intended and as medical experts have advised.

Then came the community pushback.

All day Friday, The News-Journal was copied on emails sent to Recktenwald and other Volusia County Council members to change their minds on the beach closure.

The identical emails urged Volusia County to follow Brevard County’s lead which, like Cocoa, had limited access to the shore in unincorporated county coastline.

Also Friday, an online petition entitled, "Surfing is an Essential Activity’" had garnered nearly 4,500 signatures by 11 p.m.

By 8 p.m. Friday, Volusia County Councilwoman Deb Denys said in a Facebook post she wanted the beaches back open, noting that the county could just follow the ordinance that Cocoa Beach started using for their own locale earlier that day. The post was shared widely.

"I have just sent an official request to the County Manager and County Attorney to "open the beach and follow Cocoa Beach’s Ordinance, to be effective immediately," stated Denys’ post.

"I think there’s a valid case to be made for (opening the beach back up with restrictions)," said Denys, in a phone call late Friday night. "You know, the biking, the riding, the walking. Basically, no loitering on the beach."

[READ MORE: Coronavirus: Volusia council members demand reopening of beaches]

[READ MORE: Coronavirus: Volusia beach patrol issues 120 verbal warnings in 1st day of closure]

Denys wasn’t alone. Councilwoman Billie Wheeler also made a social media post a few hours before Denys’ statement, stating she would not have voted to close the beaches.

"In my conversation with Manager and Staff, my very strong statement was that I was opposed to totally closing the beach," stated Wheeler.

Some on social media immediately praised the councilwomen’s opinions, saying the total beach closure was government overreach. Others felt the push to tweak the beach rule was all politics at a time when politics should take a back seat to human safety.

Regardless, by 1 p.m. Saturday, the beach rules had been tweaked and a press release sent out.

"The activities that we’re allowing now, really, are just meant for the people who live near those areas, who can walk to the beach," said Recktenwald. "But they’re not to be loitering or lounging around down there."

Recktenwald said all-in-all, he thinks the message the county has tried to send out has been received.

"I think they understand we’re willing to do what it takes to protect peoples’ lives, because that’s our job," said Recktenwald.

While hot spots like New York City have had a mounting death toll from the virus — reporting on Friday the highest death toll so far with 562 deaths in a single 24-hour span — on Saturday the Florida Department of Health announced 11,111 confirmed cases in Florida, 129 confirmed cases in Volusia County and the second confirmed death from COVID-19 in Volusia County.

In press conferences, medical staff at local hospitals have attempted to try to alleviate local fear by saying the area’s hospitals are prepared.

But the medical experts also fully expect the situation to get worse before it gets better locally.

According to case projection models used by The White House and referred to as "The Chris Murray Model," coronavirus cases in this state are not expected to peak until sometime around May 5, as of April 1 projections. The model was expected to beg updated again sometime Saturday, but had not as of 3:30 p.m.

"We still have time to affect the outcome of the number of cases in this county, if we act now. We still have time to affect that curve," said Recktenwald, who is on daily conference calls with a strong contingent of area hospitals, public safety and emergency staff who are on the front lines of this effect to stem the tide of coronavirus cases. "But the experts have told us - and these are medical experts - that there’s too much moving around of people for our county."

Recktenwald said those same medical experts are looking at cell phone hot maps that show people are scurrying around to places like the beach and the beachside, and are coming from "all over."

"When you do that, that’s the only way that virus moves around, is people carrying it," said the manager.

He said that’s what the county decisions were based on, why he felt the hard stop was important.

"This will be a tough month," said Recktenwald. "Very tough decisions."