Covid Not a Walk in the Park

By CONRAD HOYT

As the virus has spiked again in the city recently New Yorkers could add another surprising category of worker to the ranks of front-line combatants of the disease: Parks Department employees.

“This crisis has made it strikingly clear that parks are critical infrastructure for New Yorkers,” says parks press officer Anessa Hodgson.

Parks staffers are in the trenches, having handed out more than seven million free masks to park-goers in the five boroughs, turning recreation centers into testing sites and hubs for delivering some 62 million meals to people as part of GETFOODNYC.

“Our Parks staff has continued service on the frontlines and have demonstrated how committed we are to keeping up our city’s parks for the health and safety of all New Yorkers,” added Hodgson. “We have been working tirelessly to keep our parks clean, safe, and to ensure that people are adhering to the social distancing and face covering guidelines.”

The staff has made a big effort to keep the public safe during these unprecedented times. In March, they created a program to deploy staff into parks to be social distance ambassadors (SDA’s). In June, they hired an additional 400 SDA’s for the hot summer months, and, as Hodgson explained, approximately 120,000 patrons have been educated to date about strict social distancing guidelines.

 The staff worked hard to provide meals to families in need, while still operating under safe regulations for both the staff and the public’s well being. The department has operated nine of the eleven food distribution sites in the city at some point or another, seven in recreation centers.

“In an effort to keep New Yorkers engaged safely, Public Programs offered free outdoor programming from the beginning of July through the beginning of September,” says Hodgson. “Throughout this time, we had approximately 17,000 visits to more than 1,900 programs at around 125 outdoor park sites citywide.”

In addition to the deployed social distance ambassadors, the Parks Enforcement Patrol Officers and Urban Park Rangers are actively patrolling parks across the city to make sure social distancing guidelines are being upheld and patrons are aware of the rules. Face coverings are required in parks where social distancing is not possible.

Hodgson and the Parks department are generally seeing compliance with social distancing orders.

Photo by New York City Department of Parks & Recreation