O’Fallon cracks down on park usage, will strictly enforce social distancing measures

O’Fallon has now taken stronger efforts to curb gatherings in the city parks during the coronavirus public health crisis.

Effective March 31, all basketball courts, pavilions, playgrounds, restrooms, batting cages, the skatepark, Sports Park baseball fields, and Blazier Field (Community Park field #1) will be closed.

O’Fallon parks will remain open, but proper social distancing must be maintained. O’Fallon has 11 city parks. They had closed the playgrounds, but people were ignoring that directive.

“One of O’Fallon’s greatest assets is the excellent parks system. But we must remind everyone of the importance of social distancing,” Police Chief Eric Van Hook said. “Please, please, do not go to the parks to play basketball with a group of friends. Do not gather in parks or other areas.”

The city hopes to keep parks open for walkers and joggers who socially distance — but gatherings of people and kids who are playing basketball, soccer, baseball or using pavilions can further the spread and increase closures, he said.

“We all need to do our part to get beyond this as soon as possible, and to not overwhelm our hospitals. The peaks are expected to come sometime between April 9 and 18, and more social gatherings will prolong or intensify this,” Van Hook said.

Getting word out to families to limit children congregating at area parks became the focus of local and county officials over the weekend after a spike in reports about groups ignoring social distancing in public places.

O’Fallon Mayor Herb Roach and Van Hook stressed the importance of restricting social contact in communication efforts to lessen the spread of COVID-19.

“Things are changing rapidly and we need to stay on top of them,” Roach said.

In his March 30 column, Roach thanked citizens for their efforts.

“Thank you for doing the little things to help one another and to keep yourself and others safe like proper distancing, washing hands, not gathering in large groups, etc.,” he said.

“We will work through this together and when it’s over we will all be able to hold our head high knowing that we did the right things for the right reasons,” Roach said.

Stay-at-Home mandate extended through April 30

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced March 30 he was extending the mandatory Stay-at-Home through April 30. On March 20, he had set April 7 as the end date.

The order prohibits things like visiting the homes of friends and holding gatherings of any size. It has closed all nonessential establishments, including most retail, recreation and entertainment businesses. It does not prohibit essential activities like going to the grocery store, receiving medical care, or taking a pet for a walk.

The mayor and police department monitored the parks over the weekend, directing police officers to disperse any groups they see.

St. Clair County State’s Attorney James Gomric contacted Van Hook requesting stronger social distancing enforcement efforts at the local and county levels.

Community members can be arrested, hospitals take action

People can get arrested for violating the governor’s order, but there are five steps law enforcement can take before criminal charges, according to the Illinois State Police:

• Education about the order
• Verbal or written notice to comply
• Possible sanction from regulatory authorities that may oversee non-essential activity
• Civil liability
• Court-ordered closure or quarantine

The basketball courts in Shiloh Park were closed March 28 after the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department and Shiloh Police Department were called by St. Elizabeth’s and Memorial Hospitals after seeing groups of youths playing basketball.

“They expressed concern that groups getting together on basketball, soccer, baseball or in pavilions will further the possible spread and thereby lengthen the social distancing and current lockdowns,” Roach said.

Steps being taken to prevent gatherings

Roach was on a conference call March 27 with 16 mayors, County Chairman Mark Kern, Sheriff Rick Watson and Gomric. The bulk of the meeting was about groups gathering in parks and how to get the word out to families.

Some cities have shut down their parks completely, some have done nothing, some have closed off or put signs forbidding use of playgrounds, fields and pavilions, he said.

Some local school districts were going to use their Robocalls to ask families and children to refrain from gathering in parks and other locations, he said.

Roach and Van Hook reached out to more people through local churches and schools.

“I’m concerned that our parks may be overrun with citizens from communities that have closed down their parks completely. If this does occur, we could see our citizens exposed to a virus carrier from another community,” Roach said.

“I’m concerned what the length of the shutdown will do to our small businesses but I’m even more concerned about having our citizens further exposed to the virus and O’Fallon becoming the center for future cases in St. Clair County because we didn’t take appropriate action,” he said.

City officials have been working on plans for weeks, following procedures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Department of Health. They put restrictions in place as medical experts warned of the coronavirus hitting the St. Louis metropolitan region.

“We are working hard to combat the spread and impact of COVID-19 in our community,” Roach said. “We are trying to be proactive and not panicking as we work through this. Panic never solves a problem.”

Roach: Do not ignore safety precautions

Roach asked residents to follow the safety precautions that have been recommended.

“When it comes to you and your family’s safety you can be doing such things as avoiding crowds, keeping safe distances and washing your hands and/or using sanitizers frequently,” he said. “We will get past this and our city will be back to normal soon, but how soon depends upon everyone’s cooperation and effort.

“Together our city will come through this in a positive manner.”

Pritzker has also temporarily closed restaurants and bars to dine-in service and public and private schools in the state, taking drastic measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

No one has immunity to this novel virus, which is a severe acute respiratory illness that can spread among people through respiratory transmissions and present with symptoms similar to influenza. Most cases will be mild, but people with other health conditions, compromised immune systems and the elderly are at risk for complications.

The Illinois Department of Public Health announces totals at 2:30 p.m. daily. The governor’s office has started emergency broadcasts through different media. As of March 30, St. Clair County has medical personnel on their podcasts.

People who have symptoms of COVID-19 and want to get tested should call their state or local health department or a medical provider.

Important websites for information

Because of rapidly changing information at the federal and state levels, O’Fallon has created a webpage and is providing updates, with time and date noted, at: https://www.ofallon.org/home/urgent-alerts/covid-19-updates.

Regarding O’Fallon facilities, more info is at https://www.ofallon.org/home/news/to-help-prevent-the-spread-of-covid-19-beginning-on-march-18-access-to-city-facilities.

The mayor said the city would put new information on their official Facebook page too.

For more information, contact Grant Litteken at 618-624-4500 ext. 8760 or email at glitteken@ofallon.org.

Other important websites: State of Illinois’ coronavirus page, coronavirus.illinois.gov; federal government’s coronavirus page: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 9:04 AM.