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Bangor will reopen its playgrounds, parks and basketball courts starting Wednesday due to Penobscot County’s low number of active cases of COVID-19.
Bangor City Council member Ben Sprague tweeted a brief announcement of the news shortly before 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Besides the two active cases reported on Tuesday in Penobscot County, Sprague attributed the decision “our belief in the importance of playing outside and getting fresh air and sunshine.”
City workers will sanitize playground equipment regularly, said Sprague, who also encouraged residents who use the city’s facilities to continue maintaining their social distance ― at least 6 feet ― from one another, wash their hands, while taking all other coronavirus precautions as well.
City leaders “will monitor cases and readdress this plan if necessary,” Sprague tweeted.
Sprague’s announcement came about six hours after Maine Center for Disease Control officials announced that statewide, only nine new cases of COVID-19 were reported Tuesday, the lowest number of new cases the state had seen in a single day since April 27.
Also as of Tuesday, Penobscot had 97 reported recoveries from the virus, plus two deaths.