A plane flies over the crowds at the Bethpage Air...

A plane flies over the crowds at the Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach on May 26 2019. Credit: Todd Maisel

When beaches start opening on Memorial Day weekend, we know summer’s here.

That’s how life usually goes on Long Island, where beach living is central. Even during a pandemic, Long Islanders won’t be kept away from the shoreline and its breezes, vistas and waves. For a summer in 2020, though, we will need regional coordination and specific plans.

It won’t be easy. Localities are drafting their rules, but are looking to the state for guidance, and such coordination is needed ASAP. On Thursday, a bipartisan group of state senators wrote to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, city and county leaders calling for a task force on pandemic beach implementation.

Long Island has beaches operated by many jurisdictions. The Island exists as a coastal destination alongside New Jersey, where beaches are reopening for Memorial Day, and other mid-Atlantic states. So reasonable baseline rules with flexibility to account for beaches of different sizes with different access routes would make the most sense.

It’s also part of our economic recovery: Seasonal businesses flourish from the city line to Montauk at this time of year. The City of Long Beach sees $4 million in revenue annually from beach pass sales.

People need escapes from the heat and with many other recreational activities shut down, beaches become an even bigger lure. If beaches were closed or severely restricted, water-seekers would try to get around the rules, endangering themselves and others. And that message of defiance of communal safety would spill over to other areas as well.

Some ideas are obvious: Limit capacity in parking lots. Frequently clean bathrooms, perhaps add portable single-use potties and rethink concessions to avoid lines and direct contacts. Add hand sanitizer dispensers, in the way that the Town of Hempstead provides free sunscreen. These rules, however, are not likely to work at smaller municipal pools, which likely will be kept closed.

And Long Islanders must cooperate. This won’t work — and will need to be immediately shut down — if visitors disregard rules and disease spreads.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone’s plan would open beaches starting Memorial Day weekend. Visitors would require masks except when in the water or sitting with a group of household members. Otherwise the face must be covered in the parking lot, in the bathroom or any places where you can’t be six feet apart. A Suffolk working group for towns and villages recommends opening beaches when lifeguards and other staff can enforce the guidelines.

Nassau County’s Nickerson Beach could fit around 5,000 plots sized 12 by 12, officials estimate, to give an idea of capacity and how they would expect people to space out. In Long Beach, officials are looking at how vehicles could ferry visitors to more distant edges of the 3-mile beach.

There’s a lot to think through. Staff has to be hired and signs with the rules have to be made and installed. There’s not much time before the hottest days bring the largest crowds.

— The editorial board

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