From Texas Public Radio:
With the governor’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order expiring last week, it was a big weekend for Port Aransas, Texas. Many stir-crazy Texans flocked to the popular Gulf Coast tourist destination. While the beaches were packed, visitors and locals had mixed feelings about the city’s tourism industry, rebooting as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
A steady stream of cars, trucks and golf carts drove along the sand of Port Aransas’ beaches on Saturday morning. Along the water, beachgoers set up canopies and chairs
“I figure with some restrictions getting lifted it’s pretty safe, prolly, I don’t think the governor would tell us – I don’t think he would lift some of the restrictions if it was still as bad as everyone thought it was at the beginning,” said Jason Arredondo. He and his family took a day trip to Port Aransas from San Antonio.
After weeks in quarantine, Arredondo said the family all welcomed this chance to get out of the house. It’s early and most people are spread apart.
By 2:00 pm, farther down the beach, there’s barely any space between cars, canopies and people.
“It is probably a little bit too crowded and people should still be keeping distance from those that they haven’t been in their houses, but as long as people are like following protocol, and standards and kind of trying to stay away from people it shouldn’t be a big issue as long as you’re washing your hands and following safety protocol,” said Beth Logue, who was with a group of friends, visiting from College Station.
“I think it’s a bit too early to open it up,” Bujan said. “But understand this, we couldn’t with our small police force – we had no way of controlling the masses of people coming over here.”
The mayor said COVID-19 isn’t over. We talked by phone because Bujan himself is social distancing.
“it’s here to stay a while so those who are at risk like myself for example, I had two heart surgeries and a cancer operation in the last ten months – it’s best for those folks and for me to stay inside the house,” he said.
Port Aransas has less than 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19 right now. Mayor Bujan said he believes Nueces County – which includes Port Aransas and Corpus Christi – will see a spike now that Texas has loosened restrictions. Statewide, Texas has surpassed 30,000 cases.
That’s part of why Shannon Solimine is worried about the influx of visitors.
“I can’t go to our gas station without feeling like people are not going to take precaution instead of trusting that they will,” Solimine said.
She’s lived here for 12 years and is an incoming city councilwoman.
“I think that’s where we have an issue or where the line kind of gets drawn,” Solimine said. “I know that our stores are doing the best that the can but when you’ve got 20 or 30 people coming in at one time and no one is social distancing you’re going to have a problem.”
Over the weekend, most of the island’s retail stores reopened. Restaurants too. Per the governor’s orders, all are limited to 25% occupancy.
On Saturday evening, cooks at Shells are prepping for their second day doing table service for up to nine people. Herbert Stone owns the restaurant.
“It scares me a little bit but it almost excites me too because I know I have an opportunity to pay it forward and opportunity to show everybody what this little restaurant can do,” Stone said.
Port Aransas’s economy is based 100% on tourism. While stay-at-home orders were in effect, the restaurant was doing to-go orders, but Stone still had to lay off or furlough employees. He says, in a way, Hurricane Harvey tearing apart the island in 2017 prepared him for this.
“It’s just I got used to things I never thought I could, and when this little hit came along, I was like ‘well, here goes another one, but I know that we’ll get through it, and we do,” Stone said.
Port Aransas has bounced back before. Now, whether the summer tourist season ramps up or slows down in the next few could depend on the spread of the virus.
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