GALVESTON — On a breezy, humid Thursday Jared Williams and his girlfriend, Maysen Downey, splayed out on a towel on a beach in front of the San Luis Resort Hotel on Seawall Boulevard, decidedly not buying into the coronavirus frenzy.

Williams, 22, works at a Mercedes Benz dealership in Houston and shakes dozens of hands everyday, even as the number of reported coronavirus cases in the region continues to grow. He and Downey booked a fiv-day vacation in Galveston long before the coronavirus outbreak and wasn’t about to cancel his plans, even as the city decided to shutter bars and restaurants on Tuesday to mitigate the global pandemic.

“I think it really affects the older generation,” Williams said. “We have a stronger immune system. I just think about it as a minor cold. I don’t know anyone who has corona.”

Texas beaches appear to be one of the only remaining refuges for people attempting to escape the coronavirus. While Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday signed an executive order banning gatherings of more than 10 people and closing all gyms, bars and restaurants until April 3, many public beaches continue to be open for business. The state General Land Office, which has jurisdiction over all public beaches, has advised local governments to make a decision regarding those closure at their discretion.

But while Florida beaches densely packed with spring breakers made national headlines this week for defying Centers for Disease Control guidance on social distancing, the coastal scene in Galveston was significantly tamer.

The seawall beaches were hardly crowded Thursday, with mostly couples and families setting up towels and umbrellas a healthy distance from neighbors. The city of Galveston made the decision late Thursday to close its public beach park amenities, including parking lots, pavilions, and public restrooms, but will not prevent people from enjoying the beaches for now.

“Hopefully with the governor’s emphasis today on restrictions of gatherings of more than 10 people, that will begin to take effect and we’ll see maybe people on the beaches, but mainly families and not hordes of tourists coming down,” said Jim Yarbrough, Galveston’s mayor.

Amanda Stout, 31, a dental hygienist from Pasadena, took a day trip down to Galveston with her boyfriend, Justin Schultz. Stout said they were going stir crazy at home and decided to venture down to the coast so Schultz could go surfing.

“We brought our own lunch, we’re not eating out, we’re taking precautions,” Stout said. “We’re nature folks, for us it’s just about getting outside. We’ve been cooped up in the house.”

While information about the nature of the coronavirus is evolving everyday, most public health and infectious disease experts believe there is nothing inherently unsafe about beaches as far as being a potential hotbed for transmission.

Scott Weaver, who chairs the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said beachgoers should continue to practice social distancing of 6 feet or more but that the stiff coastal breeze and ultraviolet sun rays are two major factors that should keep the risk of infection to a minimum.

“As we move into the spring, that sunshine has a lot of ultraviolet radiation that kills viruses pretty effectively, so we don’t think those (virus) droplets — even if they’re floating around in stagnant airspace for a while — would survive,” Weaver said.

Swimming would also be safe, Weaver said, as the constant churn of waves in the Gulf of Mexico would significantly dilute the virus, even if infected people were in the water.

Some coastal communities in Texas, however, are playing it safe. In Cameron County — home to South Padre Island, a premier spring break destination — and Matagorda County, beach access is now closed to the public.

Eddie Treviño Jr., the Cameron County judge, said his decision was motivated by spring break beachgoers and local businesses not abiding by CDC guidance.

“They were not going to police themselves since they hadn’t done it with the larger numbers,” Treviño said. “At that point we discussed several options and we needed to do what we could to prevent the congregation of more than 10 individuals on our county beaches.”

Galveston County Judge Mark Henry said Monday that he would close beaches in Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula if the local health authority advised him to. A spokesman for Henry said Thursday he had not made a decision yet.

That inaction meant Rebecca Engquist enjoyed a lovely day at the beach. The 35-year-old joined her cousin and her three children for an outing Thursday. Using “reason and common sense,” they set up their towels and chairs at least 20 feet from any other beachgoers.

“It’s good to err on the side of caution, but it also shouldn’t limit you,” Engquist said. “If you keep fixating on things and staying indoors and watching TV, you’re gonna psyche yourself out.”

nick.powell@chron.com