Elle_Cee said:

The trails of the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area are apparently still open -- for now.  Facilities, including rest rooms, are all closed, though.  I'd call first to make sure they're still letting people hike. 

“The Peace of Wild Things”

Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

 Murphy closed all county and state parks by executive order today.

spontaneous said:

Reading SOMa Lounge it would appear that the people here who are not seeing unsafe distances of pedestrians on town sidewalks / streets may want to have their vision checked 

Maybe it varies by part of town or time of day. My husband and I went for a long walk this afternoon and barely saw anybody and had no trouble keeping way more than 6 feet distance from others.

terp said:

spontaneous said:

Can someone explain how the virus is not contagious on a sidewalk but is contagious on a paved walking path that was originally paved wide enough to accommodate two way vehicular traffic?

Although it defies all logic as you mention, it was a directive from an authority not named Trump and therefore should be blindly followed. 

Libertarians will kill us all.

Good job.

cubby said:

 Murphy closed all county and state parks by executive order today.

 The Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area is a National Park.  https://www.nps.gov/dewa/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

Elle_Cee said:

So everybody crams onto the town streets on this beautiful day and can barely keep their distance.  Makes a lot of sense.  

 I'd be curious to know where these streets are so that I can avoid them. We have walked wide swaths of the quadrant bordered by Prospect, Irvington Ave, Springfield Ave, and Boyden and have yet to encounter any conditions that could remotely be characterized as "crammed". If they were crammed or anything other than sparsely populated we would not be on them (and with all due deference to "spontaneous" I do not need to "have my eyes checked").

That said, I think everyone would be doing themselves a favor by watching even two minutes of the many videos shot inside the many emergency rooms before they consider what "normal" errands and socializing is worth risking.

Personally, I do no wish to die alone in a chaotic room filled with strangers while gasping for air when I still have many years of puttering around the house to look forward to.

After a number of neighborhood walks it is my opinion that people <20 and >60 are having trouble understanding this social distancing thing. 

Smedley said:

After a number of neighborhood walks it is my opinion that people <20 and >60 are having trouble understanding this social distancing thing. 

I think you are right. The people we've had to steer clear of are children (especially but not limited to on bikes), teenagers, and older folks. Though not too many in the latter category and in any case we figure it's up to us to move out of the way - not them.

With respect to kids, parents to make sure the kids know not to block the path when grownups go by. Yesterday I had to stumble into a ditch to avoid a kid who refused to give way. (just stared us down and wouldn't move an inch - this kid was old enough to know better, too.) I have a dodgy knee & ankle and this was not a safe maneuver for me, though it ended up OK. (the one and only social distancing issue I experienced on a long walk yesterday.)

 And please don't ride bikes on the sidewalk.

from nj.com

Opinion:   Gov. Murphy finally cracks down on coronavirus socializing, but don’t worry, you weren’t the problem

"Time to roll up the sidewalks, New Jersey. Go home and stay there as much as possible....

Don’t worry, though -- if you’re reading this, I’m sure you weren’t the problem.

Last weekend, when you took the kids out for a hike to relieve the boredom, it was the other people on the trail who weren’t keeping their distance from you who were the idiots...."

and  

Feds close Sandy Hook, following Murphy’s lead on state park shutdowns