Stay away from the beach

Mea culpa. I was upset when I saw this photo that @seaninorbit Tweeted on March 28, 2020. But I was so very wrong. Read on to learn why I changed my mind and now fully support this ban.



As I cyclist, I immediately bristle when people in cars are given more rights than people outside of cars. Read the sign in this photo.

The beach bike path below is closed. The wide sidewalk for pedestrians at street level is closed. The on-street bike path is closed. Pedestrians and bicyclists are banned from the street. The city of Redondo Beach appears to be saying that only people cars can use the street.

By law, our streets are supposed to give access to all modes of travel.

Where are people outside of cars supposed to go?  I felt that this was another auto supremacy move by our city and police department.

Then I read Rosanna Xia's piece about why people should stay away from the beaches right now.

In her research, [UCSD/Scripps Professor Kim] Prather has found that the ocean churns up all kinds of particulate and microscopic pathogens, and every time the ocean sneezes with a big wave or two, it sprays these particles into the air. She believes that this new coronavirus is light enough to float through the air much farther than we think. The six-feet rule, she said, doesn’t apply at the beach, where coastal winds can get quite strong and send viral particles soaring.

“It’s not going to kill you if you miss a few surfing sessions, but it could if you go out there and get in the wrong air,” she said.

“You can’t see the virus, you can’t smell it ... It’s a real silent killer right now.”

...

“Once things are in the air, they can go pretty darn far. People are shocked whenever I talk about stuff becoming airborne,” she said. “I see pictures of the beach shut down, and the signs tell you don’t walk on the beach, don’t swim, don’t surf, but nobody tells you: Don’t breathe.”

Remember all the other scientists saying how far aerosol droplets can travel before hitting the ground under laboratory conditions? The beach environment is a lot windier and complex than most labs.

You know how you can taste the saltiness in the air at the beach? That clammy feeling on your skin and clothes? That's sea spray.

Salt is corrosive. People who live near the beach know how far sea spray travels because we have to combat the corrosiveness with constant home maintenance.

Salt and sea spray is also hygroscopic--it attracts water. Small droplets can attract moisture out of the air and become bigger droplets that fall more quickly. That stuff can fall on you and stick.

Conversely, sea spray can warm up and evaporate some of their water, becoming lighter and able to travel further. Add stiff sea breezes and you have a complex aerosol environment with who knows what blowing quite a distance inland depending on sun and wind conditions.

Dr Prather also cautioned that stuff that precipitates out of the air can be washed out in the ocean and become re-aerosolized.

Coronaviruses are encased by what she calls a “hydrophobic” lipid, or fatty, membrane. Fat tends to float to the surface of water, similar to oil in a vinaigrette dressing. When waves break in the surf zone and all the foam and bubbles pop, Prather said, “all that stuff — the viruses, the bacteria, pollutants, all the gooey, oily stuff — just launches into the air.”

That surfer that said he was going out when the surf was up, no matter what? He's not just endangering himself.  He could be an asymptomatic virus shedder exhaling into the sea spray.

Alison D. Nugent et al recently found "We've also found a stronger relationship of Sea spray aerosol (SSA) number concentration to wave activity than to wind speed in our coastal measurements."

Even if people are spaced 6 feet apart in the bike lane right along the coast, that's not enough.  Better to bike the inland route right now.

Many regular bike commuters wear N95 masks to protect themselves from car exhaust and PM2.5.  If you don't have that, wear a homemade cloth mask, stay away from cars and other riders as much as you can.