Public parks and the pandemic: How park usage has been affected by COVID-19 policies.

ABSTRACT: Public parks serve an important societal function as recreational spaces for diverse communities of people, with well documented physical and mental health benefits. As such, parks may be crucial for how people have handled effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the increasingly limited recreational opportunities, widespread financial uncertainty, and consequent heightened anxiety. Despite the documented benefits of parks, however, many states have instituted park shutdown orders due to fears that public parks could facilitate SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Here we use geotagged social media data from state, county, and local parks throughout New Jersey to examine whether park visitation increased when the COVID-19 pandemic began and whether park shutdown orders were effective at deterri

SUBMITTER: Volenec ZM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8133454 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature