HAMBURG, N.Y. — Because of the coronavirus this Memorial Day, not only are people grabbing the sunscreen before going to the beach, but also their face mask.
At Woodlawn Beach, State Park police tell 2 On Your Side there have no issues with beachgoers practicing social distancing and following the rules. Because Woodlawn is a state park now, there are a number of restrictions in place.
Beach blankets and chairs need to be 10 feet from each other.
Capacity has been cut in half, that's enforced by limiting parking.
There are no group activities allowed, no contact sports like football and volleyball can be played. And, employees and visitors need to wear masks when social distancing is not possible.
At Hamburg Town Beach, the town supervisor tells us people have been compliant there as well.
Beginning next Saturday, a part-time security guard will handle crowd control and hand out masks to people who need them.
"We're going to do it 20 hours a week. We're going to have something there on a Saturday and Sunday because those are peak days, but we also want to have some presence during the week," said Jim Shaw, Town of Hamburg Supervisor
At Canalside, we found a lot of people social distancing, a number of people wearing masks and no Adirondack chairs.
"It's helped because it kind of discourages people from taking advantage of the public seating and stuff that unfortunately is hard to maintain in terms of social distancing," said Buffalo Police Captain Jeff Rinaldo.
Not having masks is an issue that the owner of Sunset Beach told us about.
On Sunday, the beach sold more than 100 masks to people who needed them.
And, there have been issues of people not keeping proper social distancing. However, after issuing reminders, the owner of Sunset says people have been compliant.
At Niawanda Park we found a lot of people keeping their distance and some wearing masks.
Even though this is not a state park, the State Parks Department says people should enjoy themselves with members of their immediate household and to keep six feet away from others and wear a mask when social distancing is not possible.
A little bit up to the road from Niawanda – at Gratwick Park in North Tonawanda we found smaller groups, some people with masks on.
We called City of Tonawanda Police to asked whether there have been any issues with people congregating this holiday weekend, but we did not hear back.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday that what people do this Memorial Day will affect the infection rate in the days ahead and that will affect how fast regions open.
