Allow sunbathing for those who don't have a garden

Open up all the parks but ask the public who have a garden not to use them for anything other than a walk or run, i.e. not sunbathing or picnic-ing, if they already have their own garden or an outdoor space they are able to sit in.
If you trust the general public, then you are not discriminating against the poorest members of society and students by allowing only one section of the public to enjoy the sun and all the physical and mental health benefits that beings.
Put notices on climbing frames and children's play areas that these areas must remain closed as they have many contact points where the virus will be able to spread, but there is no need to shut an entire park due to 1 small climbing frame.
Tell people they have to maintain roughly 2 car lengths between members of another household whilst sunbathing. Encourage people to take out their own picnic blankets to further avoid contamination of the park, and encourage people to sit on the grass rather than benches.
We don't know if we'll get another sunny day this year in Scotland, as, lets face it, that could be summer over, and so I really don't want to waste sunny days sitting indoors when I can safety social distance and enjoy the sun.

Why the contribution is important

The closure of parks affects mostly the poorest members of society and students. A massive percentage of the population have their own garden, though mainly the middle and upper class, and this idea enables everybody to have access to the sun. Here in Scotland, these few weeks of warmth might be our entire summer - there is no guarantee the weather will stay this warm or that we'll have sun again, and it's so important for the Scottish people to be able to top up their vitamin D levels. As well as this, sitting in the sun is very good for mental health and general happiness.
I am in Glasgow and we have many small parks enjoyed by a few blocks of flats. We would be completely able to social distance properly within a park.
Lockdown is difficult for people who are stuck in a small space with a lot of people but it will become more bearable when simple liberties are allowed such as this - liberties that realistically and logically won't increase the spread of the virus.

by DeborahL on May 11, 2020 at 02:56PM

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