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Editorial: Leaders must deter large numbers from gathering at parks and preserves

In late March, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle threatened to close more of Cook County's forest preserves if people didn't stop gathering there in groups, a surefire way to spread the coronavirus.

We regret to inform her that it's time to drop the other shoe. And not just for Preckwinkle, not just for Cook County. Despite all the efforts to keep people from partying in forest preserves around the Chicago region, they continue to draw too many people. Some people turn out to party. Others are there to take advantage of hiking and riding paths. Last weekend, Raceway Woods in Carpentersville was loaded with visitors - so much so that the parking lot filled up and cars were lined up across the street. A reader from Wheaton wrote us to complain about how crowded Herrick Lake was.

Scientists and health experts are telling us the next two to three weeks are likely to bring a "surge" of COVID-19 cases.

Yes, many of us are bored and some of us are lonely, but we've got to do everything possible to avoid reigniting the fuse that so far has cost more than 800 lives in the six-county region alone. Most of us are doing a generally good job at staying isolated, but some people don't get it. Or they don't care. And they put everyone else at risk.

And it isn't just the picnickers. It's also forest preserves filled with joggers, walkers and bikers. For sure, what a refreshing, spirit-raising thing it is on a beautiful spring day to take a spin around Busse Woods. But all those people exercising in close quarters, even when many are conscious of social distancing, increase the threat of spreading infection.

People need to exercise. No one should deny or deter that impulse. But we're going to have to find ways to do it that don't bring us in such close proximity to others that we endanger them and ourselves.

We urge the forest preserve districts to consider closing the forest preserves. Rope them off. Chain them up. Do whatever it takes to discourage people from using them.

When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot closed lakefront trails and parks last month after warm weather brought sun-starved joggers and riders to the lakefront in droves, she pointed a sobering finger at all of us.

"Your conduct - yours - is posing a direct threat to our public health," Lightfoot said.

We're having another lakefront moment. Temporarily closing the forest preserves feels like a draconian action, but we are already seeing that we're going to have to learn to live with some draconian measures for a while. To be sure, some people are going to die without them.

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