By Nelson Lin

I returned from college expecting New Jersey to be on total lockdown, after hearing about the skyrocketing cases of the coronavirus in our state, with 25,590 infected and 537 dead, as of April 2.

Yet, to my surprise, I came back to open beaches and boardwalks in many shore towns, a policy that defeats the purpose of social distancing. In refusing to close beaches and boardwalks statewide, we are ignoring the real and present threat of COVID-19. This is reckless and irresponsible during what is now a global public health crisis, placing us all at risk.

Nowhere else is this more prominent than in Atlantic City, where beaches and boardwalks were still open as of this writing. City Council President George Tibbitt stated in a March 25 Press of Atlantic City article that the proposed closure of his city’s beaches and boardwalks, as had just occurred in Ocean City, was “the dumbest thing I ever heard.” His viewpoints were echoed by Mayor Marty Small Sr., who told a radio interviewer, “Tough times don’t last, tough people do,” and encouraged people to walk outside or on the boardwalk. This rhetoric seems irresponsible given New Jersey’s current situation.

Let’s be clear: New Jersey does not have the medical resources to “tough out” this global pandemic. Recent estimates from the University of Washington have New Jersey short over 1,000 hospital beds and ventilators at its peak of COVID-19 cases. Even worse, these estimates are based on the assumption that every single person maintains social distancing.

If we cannot change the number of hospital beds we can provide, then the only action we can take is to stop further infections from occurring. That can only happen by placing our faith in policies that promote public health, rather than listening to politicians discuss vague ideas like toughness and grit.

Without complete closures, we’re only creating more opportunities for COVID-19 transmission. Instead of enforcing social distancing by shutting down beaches and boardwalks, we’re just rolling the dice by trusting that social distancing will be maintained by every person out and about.

Ocean City provides us good reason to believe social distancing alone won’t be followed. Out-of-state surfers and crowded boardwalks were seen there just days before the beaches were finally closed.

If we don’t completely close down all of our state’s beaches and boardwalks, areas left open in places like Atlantic City will only become more densely packed with people choosing to ignore social distancing, creating hotbeds of COVID-19 transmission. (Small has later said that he would shut the boardwalk if he continues to see large gatherings there,)

Belmar’s boardwalk, now closed, took that action after the town saw an increase in visitors once nearby towns closed their own boardwalks. A town-by-town ban does nothing but concentrate those ignoring social distancing in a smaller number of places.

This illustrates the need for a statewide mandate to close down all beaches and boardwalks during this unprecedented crisis. Even if it’s not obvious now, as the weather grows warmer and beaches become more enticing, more people will inevitably begin flocking to beachfronts.

We are choosing to prolong the devastation and harm of COVID-19 over the marginal benefits of keeping some beaches open. Mayor Small’s inaction is a conscious choice to prioritize the temporary pleasure of beachgoers over the health and safety of immunocompromised and at-risk individuals statewide. We are sacrificing our future for a mildly more comfortable present.

To protect the people of New Jersey and to return safely to the beaches we love, we have to make the difficult decision to shut them all down for now. Until the pandemic subsides, this is the only way to enforce social distancing and stop COVID-19 for good.

Nelson Lin is an undergraduate student at Brown University majoring in public health and neuroscience. He lives in Freehold.

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