We decided to document our observations about mask-wearing, COVID-19 requirements and enforcements, social distancing, and other coronavirus-related protocols.
Please note that these are strictly our observations about places we visit and we know that other parts of the states may be different. Feel free to ask any specific questions about certain locations!
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
We got an early start and stopped to visit some friends before the work day began and we continued along the open road. Everyone who we saw on the street and in the park we passed by had a mask (and they were covering their noses!). Even the two runners we saw wore masks appropriately and continuously.
Grade: A+
Shenandoah National Park
There were very few people when we arrived at the park, probably because it was a Monday, raining, and very foggy. At the Visitor Centers and “comfort stations,” everyone wore masks, and on the trails and at the overlooks, people stayed quite far from one another.
Grade: A+ (for masks and social distancing)
(It was another story when we left the park and filled up with gas south of Luray, VA. No one at the gas station, inside or outside, wore a mask. It was the only place that we stopped in this area to observe.)
Seneca Rocks, West Virginia
This trail up this part of the Monongahela National Forest is challenging enough that groups were able to space out. Everyone we passed either put on a mask or turned away and made sure there was the maximum space to pass. In some places the path wasn’t wide enough to keep 6 ft apart.
Grade: A-
Bloomington, Indiana – Home of IU!
We arrived in Bloomington after hiking at Brown County State Park in southern Indiana where there were very few people and all the park employees were masked up. At IU, for the most part students were wearing masks, and many put them on in the vicinity of others. Many businesses had window signs requiring masks, which I observed people obeying. The restaurant that I entered had patrons outside and distanced (but no masks on when not eating), and all the employees wore masks.
Grade: B+
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
*Warning* Double-masks and sanitizer needed when traveling in South Dakota. Since the Badlands is mainly a park to drive along (there are not many hiking trails due to the formations and topography), the viewpoints/overlooks get crowded. In many places you can wait your turn to view the landscape, so social distancing is somewhat practiced. However, the park-built pathways are only about 4 feet wide and most people didn’t wait for others to pass to enter onto them. I estimate about 20% of people were wearing masks or had a bandana around their necks.
Grade: D
Boulder, Colorado
Colorado is night and day from South Dakota in terms of mask-wearing and social distancing. When we were hiking up the Flat Irons, a very popular trail and especially on Labor Day weekend, every time another group passed one another, everyone put on their masks. Many people never took it off to hike or run.
In downtown Boulder, the same was the case for masks and the waiters at brunch had both masks and gloves. The only concern was walking down Pearl Street where it was crowded with pedestrians, though most were wearing masks.
Grade: A-
Sabbatical with Scout 