Stay at home, people. If you must go out, keep your distance already.
That’s the message the Davis Police Department — and law-enforcement agencies countywide — issued Friday afternoon after getting slammed with complaints about social-distancing violations in recent days.
“We’re receiving more complaints about people using playground equipment, tennis courts, basketball courts, and not adequately spacing when riding or walking on greenbelts,” creating potential coronavirus breeding grounds, Police Chief Darren Pytel said.
In some cases, people have ripped down yellow caution tape in order to use the blocked-off facilities, while more middle- and high-school aged kids are grouping up in parks.
Between emails and calls to dispatchers, the complaints have numbered a dozen or more per day, with some demanding stronger enforcement action for the rule breakers, Pytel said.
This week’s springlike weather was the likely culprit, and “we know that it will be much more difficult to stay inside,” Pytel said. But with COVID-19 still causing deaths in Yolo County and beyond, “we are asking people to dig deep now, and hopefully we can turn this around much sooner.”
Yolo County’s shelter-in-place order remains in effect until at least May 1, limiting travel to essential business and permitting recreational activity under social-distancing guidelines. Already, the city has shut down playgrounds and sport courts, even removing basketball hoops, due to prior failures to follow the order.
Egregious violators face arrest or citation, which carries a punishment of up to 90 days in jail and/or a fine between $50 and $1,000.
Still, they persist.
“Although we have seen substantial compliance with the orders, law enforcement has seen an increase in the number of complaints regarding large gatherings and businesses failing to follow the rules established by the Public Health Officer,” said the Davis police message, blasted out on social media late Friday afternoon.
Complaints also have come in regarding nonessential businesses still trying to operate, with a local massage parlor and a private school that attempted to work with students on campus among the most recent examples, Pytel said.
Pytel said his agency also is seeing an increase in house party reports, some gatherings having as many as 40 people in relatively close quarters. Even if the festivities are outside, “people are too close, and that’s how this spreads.”
That concern was on the forefront this past week as Davis approached what would have been Picnic Day on Saturday.
Despite frequent social-media messaging discouraging parties and other large gatherings, the Police Department plans to beef up its staff Saturday “and we are prepared to deal with any parties that pop up,” Pytel said. “We will make arrests and citations, if appropriate.”
So far, Davis police haven’t had to arrest or cite anyone for flouting the county order, though “we’ve come close a couple of times” at party scenes, Pytel said. Instead, officers issued noise-violation tickets, which carry a $280 fine.
“While we’re all committed to educating the public and will continue to do so, some people are flat-out ignoring the order, and we will take enforcement action to ensure the safety of our communities,” Pytel said of Yolo County’s law-enforcement partners.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene