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Huge crowds gather for Memorial Day weekend as coronavirus deaths near 100,000 | TribLIVE.com
Coronavirus

Huge crowds gather for Memorial Day weekend as coronavirus deaths near 100,000

Bret Gibson
Bret Gibson
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The Star-News
Kure Beach Ocean Rescue lifeguard Katy Kelly looks out from a stand at Kure Beach, N.C. The town lifted the majority of beach restrictions related to the coronavirus on May 15.
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Northwest Florida Daily News
Boaters crowd an area known as ‘Crab Island’ in the shallow waters near Destin Fla., Saturday, May 23, 2020, as the long Memorial Day weekend begins during the coronavirus pandemic.
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The Sun News
Darien Foxx, of Virginia, sun bathes on the back of his car while he waits on the rest of his party to check into a hotel amid the coronavirus pandemic, Saturday, May 23, 2020, in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
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AP
People gather on the beach for the Memorial Day weekend in Port Aransas, Texas, Saturday, May 23, 2020. Beachgoers are being urged to practice social distancing to guard against covid-19.
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The Advocate
People visit Pensacola Beach in Pensacola, Fla., Saturday, May 23, 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic.

Social distancing, crowd limitations and wearing face masks are all techniques of lessening the risk of coronavirus exposure.

But during the Memorial Day weekend, many in the United States are doing away with such practices.

As the national death toll of covid-19 neared 100,000, states across the country relaxed restrictions to reopen their economies and get life to a semblance of normality.

In Missouri, tourists flocked to the Lake of the Ozarks. Several videos taken Saturday showed people refraining from social distancing. Hundreds of people crowded into a pool and no one was seen wearing a mask.

“No covid concerns at the lake of the ozarks,” KTVK anchor Scott Pasmore wrote on Twitter.

Crowds were seen at other beaches and watering holes on the East Coast, including the boardwalk in Ocean City, Md., and beaches that reopened along the Jersey Shore.

In Pennsylvania, counties still under strict coronavirus restrictions will move to the “yellow” reopening phase on June 5, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday.

Wolf last week questioned the wisdom of beach-going and gathering in large crowds.

“I wouldn’t go to the beach,” Wolf said in a video news conference. “There are people there who aren’t wearing masks and you’re putting yourself at risk. I wouldn’t do that, I haven’t done that, and I’m not sure why the governors of Maryland and New Jersey have opened their beaches, but they have.”

Meanwhile, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx says she’s “very concerned” that people going outdoors for the weekend aren’t maintaining 6 feet of social distancing, the Associated Press reported.

Responding that asymptomatic people could unwittingly spread coronavirus, Birx said people need to wear masks in public if they don’t socially distance because “you don’t know who’s infected.”

Bret Gibson is a TribLive digital producer. A South Hills resident, he started working for the Trib in 1998. He can be reached at bgibson@triblive.com.

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Categories: Coronavirus | Editor's Picks | News | Top Stories | U.S./World
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