San Mateo County announces closure of all parks and trails

SAN MATEO, Calif. - All San Mateo County Parks have been closed until further notice due to a sharp increase in visitors despite the shelter-in-place and social distancing orders enacted to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, officials said Friday.

San Mateo County Parks had kept 17 of the 23 sites it manages open as of this week.

An increase in visitors last weekend and observations of park and trail use over the past several weeks led to the closure order.

"The decision to close parks is not easy, especially now when people are looking for outdoor experiences, but the safety of San Mateo County residents must always be a priority," said San Mateo County Parks Director Nicholas Calderon. "In that spirit we had to take this action." 

Data collected from mid-February to March 25 showed increases of 50 percent to 300 percent in park use following the shelter-in-place order.

Park staff also noticed people gathering in groups and failing to keep a safe distance.

"We have a limited amount of time for the Shelter In Place Order to truly save lives," San Mateo County Manager Mike Callagy said. "The sheer number of people crowding our parks and driving to reach them made them unsafe for our community. I appreciate the desire for our residents to get outside and enjoy our open spaces, but we cannot have them descending on our parks in large groups now."

Entrance gates and parking lots will be locked and notices will be posted that the parks and trails are closed.

Patrol of parks will continue during the closure.