Popular parks and beaches were already crowded on Sunday morning as the Lower Continent prepares for its first summer heat.
Environment Canada forecasts peaks of 25oC near water, with mercury emerging at a minimum of 30 in the Fraser Valley.
Metro Vancouver reported that parking at White Pine Beach, Sasamat Lake and Belcarra Regional Park was already complete at 8 a.m.
– Port Moody Police (@PortMoodyPD) July 26, 2020
– Metro Vancouver (@MetroVancouver) July 26, 2020
The district warned visitors not to park illegally on the nearby roads, saying it had increased fines for infractions.
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Park officials begged others to respect the social distance amid COVID-19 as they tried to cool off in the heat.
John McEwen, mayor of Anmore and president of Regional Parks in Metro Vancouver, said the parks belong to everyone, but that there are limits to what they can accommodate, especially the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Don’t worry about coming if it’s closed. Unfortunately, we have limited capacity right now,” he said.
“Think about visiting our regional parks.”
McEwen said other people hoping to enter the parks around Anmore last weekend were so bad that the government began blocking traffic lanes on the network at 7 a.m., while poorly parked cars covered the road from Lake Sasamat to the city of Ioco, four miles away.
At Cultus Lake, officials were forced to close the two main sections of Main Beach Wharf due to overcrowding, and the Parks Council in particular called it “young park customers.”
In Vancouver’s Third Beach, that of a drum circle that went viral where many other people were filmed regardless of physical distance, Dr. Bonnie Henry made an appearance on Saturday, if only in effigy.
Someone published the face of the most productive doctor in the province and placed him on the beach, to remind bathers to stay two meters away.
Social distance is the only challenge because the temperature rises.
Union Gospel project spokesman Jeremy Hunka said other homeless people in the region now face the double danger of coronavirus and warm weather.
“These two things are overly dangerous, and this is just an emergency. Fix excessive overlap,” he said.
“Dehydration, heat exhaustion, sunburn, and this can create conditions where other people die, you’ve noticed.”
Hunka stated that the project had opened its Vancouver Visitor Center a few hours a day, but that capacity was strictly limited due to physical distance requirements.
He said they were also looking to distribute warm weather clothing, sunscreen and reusable water bottles, but their materials were well below the overall level this year, as the pandemic affected donations.