“I had hoped we could keep the parks open but the spread of COVID-19 is too big of a threat to the health of our residents.”

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis County will close all of its county parks this Friday in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

County Executive Sam Page made the announcement Thursday night.

The parks will close at 8 p.m. Friday.

“This will help us save lives. That’s our top priority,” Page said. “I had hoped we could keep the parks open but the spread of COVID-19 is too big of a threat to the health of our residents.”

Barricades will be placed at park entrances that aren’t already gated. There will also be electronic message boards on the streets leading up to Creve Coeur Lake Park, Jefferson Barracks Park, Lone Elk Park and Grant’s Trial.

Page said the county parks department will collaborate with Great Rivers Greenway to barricade and post signs for the trail networks that wind through county parks.

The parks will stay closed through at least April 22, which goes with St. Louis County’s stay-at-home order.

At this time, Page said he’s hopeful residents will follow the order and stay out of the parks, but park rangers and county police will go out on patrol if needed.

“With warmer weather, our parks are becoming more and more crowded,” said St. Louis County Parks Director Tom Ott. “During this health crisis, we cannot allow large groups of people to be together in one place.”

In the city last weekend, social media posts showed large groups of people gathering in parks and not abiding by social distancing measures. That prompted St. Louis leaders to close roads to all vehicles in some of the city’s biggest parks: O’Fallon, Fairground, Carondelet and Willmore parks.

Closures also extended to Forest Park, which now has three streets closed to drivers. People can still go for walks in city parks, but social distancing must be maintained.

Missouri State Parks also took measures to keep too many people from gathering together. Four of Missouri’s state parks closed Thursday afternoon.

The changes include:

Castlewood State Park will close

Elephant Rocks State Park will close

Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site and Park will close

Weston Bend State Park will close

St. Joe State Park will close the off-road vehicle riding area