Ron Fish gets an early start on his spring fishing from the pier at McCrea Point Park on Wednesday. P-J photo by Jay Young

With today marking the first day of spring, Jamestown residents are looking for ways to enjoy the change in weather with outdoor activities while still abiding by coronavirus shutdowns and practicing social distancing.

While maintaining a focus on halting the spread of the disease, there are still plenty of options to stay physically and mentally active.

“My wife and I are planning on doing that this afternoon, going out and walking,” said Carl, a driver for Chautauqua Area Rural Transit System. “Because you just can’t stay in the house all the time. Going out and walking is not going to hurt anything.”

With sweeping social changes upsetting the daily routines of millions of Americans, many are looking for alternatives to stay active during the coming weeks. Those options all look quite different than normal when taking into account the need to stay socially isolated.

“I’ve got kids and grandkids and they’ve all had to adjust. Staying home is the hardest thing,” Carl said. “You just have to do what they are saying to do. We are Christians and there is not going to be any church for a month, no Easter. That is a big change, this is the first time in my life, I’m 78 years old and I can’t go to church. That is a big factor.”

Eric and Deborah Bolling enjoy a walk at the Town of Ellery Park. P-J photo by Jay Young

In an effort to make the best out of a difficult situation, some residents are hopeful about the potential for enjoying the outdoors.

“We’re doing what we are supposed to be doing, getting outside and staying isolated,” said Deborah Bolling while out on a walk at the Town of Ellery Park. “I’m very grateful for this track and having a place to just be outdoors.”

“Obviously it is not going to be as nice of a spring and not everyone is going to be out and enjoying all the things they normally would be, mostly because stuff is closed,” Danielle Lacki said. “Especially now that schools are closed and stuff, I’m sure a lot of kids are going to be out and learning things that maybe they wouldn’t normally learn. In the wilderness and all kinds of stuff like that.”

Lacki, an employee of Full Moon Rising Bakery, was in the process of delivering takeout orders to customers when reached for comment. Thus far, the transition for her business to shutdown changes has gone as well as can be expected.

“It’s actually still going really good for us,” she said. “The only issue that we have really is the Reg Lenna is closed, so the shows they had–we would have birthday parties and stuff. People have canceled their parties which has only really canceled a couple of cakes. But we still have orders going out the door, that is like the fifth person I’ve seen already today, we open at 10. People can’t sit down but they can still come in, browse, get what they want. A lot of people are calling to do this takeout order thing, it is working super good for us.”

Changes in food service and business operations are just some of the concerns during the shutdown, in addition to proposed economic stimulus plans to help struggling workers and housing issues.

In the event that a shelter-in-place or more serious quarantine order is issued, there are other worries.

“I live up here in the high rise, they are a (Housing and Urban Development) building so they’d close me up if they have this (shelter-in-place),” Mark Collins said. “But in the meantime I can at least go for coffee or I can go up to McDonalds and get something. I don’t know about the bars because I don’t go into bars. I’m going up here to Crown coffee shop. They are doing pretty good, it is all takeout though.”

National proposals for financial stimulus on a person-by-person basis appear to have some local support at this early stage, although no one is convinced that there is a silver-bullet solution.

“That is better than nothing, but it is not a fix. We’re just going to have to weather it out. Just ride the sail,” Collins said.

“I think it is a good idea,” Carl said. “You can’t just bail out people like they did in ’08 or ’09. You just don’t bail them out, that doesn’t stimulate anything. With the money, of course it’s not going to bail you out of any severe debts if you are in it.”

With the shutdown likely to continue for the foreseeable future, there is also a pressing need to support local businesses whenever possible.

“We’re just hoping that everyone’s small business is being supported still,” Lacki said. “We’re hoping that everybody’s business is still going to do all right with their takeouts and stuff like that, because we know that almost everybody down here is still doing like a delivery or a pick up.”

Chautauqua County officials announced Wednesday that 20 people were in precautionary quarantine. No cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the county.

In a news release, the county Department of Health and Human Services listed activities available while social distancing was in effect. “As long as you remain in good health, maintain social distancing, good hygiene and common sense, there’s still a lot of things to do in Chautauqua County,” health officials said.

Among the activities the county suggests: taking a hike at a local state park; going for a drive; riding a bike; walking your dog; cleaning out the garage; and ordering takeout from a local business.