During
this coronavirus pandemic it is time for Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to
strike the “control-alt-delete” format on the state parks system,
and perhaps especially, state-operated boat launches.
Only
when the danger from this death-dealing crisis is over should DeWine
hit the “restart” button.
The
current course of action on the part of the Ohio Department of
Natural Resources toward this increasing threat is an amalgamation
of
wishful thinking and misplaced cheer-leading
If
anything, the Natural Resources Department may have unwittingly
become a facilitator for the coronavirus’ expansion.
Consider:
the Department’s chief of
Communications
Sarah Wickham has said
park
visitors “need
to use their common sense when they make a choice to visit one of our
properties.”
“We
understand that people are excited to get out, but if a parking lot
is full, they should go somewhere else. If a trail is too crowded,
they should make the responsible decision and leave.”
Fine.
Sounds logical. Makes practical sense.
Problem
is, it’s not being observed. Not by a long shot.
During
DeWine’s March 30th daily news briefing the Governor acknowledged
that law enforcement officials around the state are alarmed as people
ignore the social distancing order when visiting parks.
Even
the Natural Resources Department field law enforcement officers are
failing to observe this decree, setting a poor example. In the
process consequently demonstrating that Wickham’s hoped-for action
is really little more than a misguided public relations attempt at
convincing everyone the Department is on top of things.
Late March 24th on a drive-through at Geneva State Park, my wife and I
observed a Natural Resources patrol vehicle stopped in the unit’s
western-most parking lot. There, another vehicle with private plates
was parked alongside with the sole occupant leaning into the driver’s
side window of the state vehicle, the two people’s distance
measured in a fraction of the Governor’s six-foot “social
distancing” requirement.
Along
with that experience came the sight of numerous parties of people
strolling through the park, which is fine. Except more than a few of
these visitors – and there were many out on that unseasonably mild
and sunny afternoon - acted as though a coronavirus threat was
something that simply consumed the evening news.
No
less potentially disruptive to tossing gasoline on the coronavirus
fire that threatens to become a blazing public health inferno is the
matter of the Natural Resources’ public boat launches.
These
launches are vital for accessing fishing holes from the Ohio River
through the inland reservoirs on up to Lake Erie. As to the latter,
the lake’s incredible walleye bonanza has proven so tempting that
anglers are more than willing to risk the invisible enemy that
Governor DeWine says is stalking us all.
Consequently,
these risk taking boater-anglers are crowding the pubic ramps. To
assume they are all practicing a six-foot social distance circle is
ludicrous.
Indeed,
even the tie-up boat cleats on the walkways are themselves potential
conduits for the virus. No guarantee is assumed that a person who
touched such a cleat did not first swipe his face and consequently
transferred virus cells to the metal cleat, thereby passing them on
to the next person.
This
possibility is the reasoning behind DeWine ordering playgrounds to
close; how the potentially virus-contaminated slides, monkey bars and
the like could become the vectors that spreads the disease from one
child to the next.
No
less troubling is how the allure of Lake Erie’s famous walleye
fisheries (ironically touted by Governor DeWine himself) has proven a
siren song for out-of-state anglers. As a result, the Natural
Resources Department may have become an unintentional facilitator for
the import and export of the disease into and out of Ohio.
The
most recent statistic says Ohio currently has more than 4,000
licensed non-resident anglers – almost certainly many to most of
whom are fishing Lake Erie. And it is this group that needs to be
discouraged from coming most of all.
It
is silly to believe that a collection of Wisconsin anglers will
self-quarantine themselves when they return home anymore than to
expect non-resident anglers visiting from Detroit will do the same
once they are here.
Only
a short time into the aforementioned news conference, DeWine’s
well-spoken-of Director of the Ohio Department of Health, Dr. Amy
Acton, pleaded with Ohioans. She requested that Ohioans think about
how they engage in even essential activities where “every trip to
the store” poses a risk to others and which could prolong the
coronavirus’s grip on the state.
Correctly,
Acton noted how “people have made sacrifices.”
We
have asked kids looking for a pick-up game of basketball at a city
park to stop. We have told members of the local “Y” they cannot
use the swimming pool. And that folks cannot visit the movie theater,
or the senior center for an art or zumba class.
Thus,
we are at a crossroads. It is time for park visitors to re-evaluate
their actions as to where and how they move about. If they cannot,
then it is past time for Governor DeWine to tighten the restrictions
on park usage until this crisis is over.
As
for state-operated boat launches, they may very well become the trail
heads for spreading the disease across Ohio and elsewhere. They must
be shuttered.
After
all, Lake Erie’s 116 million walleye are not going anywhere.
They’ll still be there in May and June.
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
JFrischk4@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment