CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Beaches and parks in Corpus Christi and Nueces county will remain open even after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered that no groups of people form anywhere except at religious institutions.
“Our beaches can stay open, but we are not being allowed to gather even in groups of 10 or less,” Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales said.
Immediate family is allowed to spend the day at the beach, but others can't be allowed to join.
The same goes for parks including Islander Pavilion, where pick-up basketball games still were taking place Wednesday afternoon. The players had mixed feelings about the games likely coming to an end because of the new order.
"It’s kind of a bummer, but I understand with what’s going on in the world, and what they have to do to keep everybody safe," said Steven Gutierrez.
A fellow basketball player disagrees with the order, and he plans to defy it even if police enforce it and stop his game.
“Once (the police) leave, I’m going to play again,” said Joel Palacios.
At the beach, a swim coach was disappointed to hear about the order. High Performance Aquatics' Dean Kondziolka has been training his 25 talented young swimmers at the beach ever since pools closed over coronavirus concerns. Now they won't be allowed to gather for practice.
"It makes it difficult to get any basic training in, because we’re so restricted with all the facilities being closed," he said.
