Beachgoers in Sydney were told to avoid a handful of popular beaches that neared their coronavirus capacity on Monday as beaches south of the city in the Royal national park were shut due to large crowds.
A combination of warm weather exceeding 30C, and the final day of the labor day long weekend, saw councils in Sydney’s eastern and northern suburbs issue warnings in the middle of the day urging people preparing for an afternoon swim to rethink their plans.
Capacity warnings were issued for Bondi Beach and North Cronulla beach while Randwick council – which takes in Clovelly, Coogee and Maroubra beaches – also told beachgoers to make alternate plans. None of the beaches were actually forced to close to new visitors, however.
Wattamolla and Garie beaches within the Royal national park were shut when they reached capacity before midday with roads reopening shortly after 5pm.
Earlier on Monday, New South Wales recorded its tenth consecutive day of zero community transmission of Covid-19.
In what was the first major test for its summer crowd management plan, Waverley council released a statement about 1.30pm noting Bondi Beach was “nearing capacity” of about 6,000 visitors.
“If people continue to come to Bondi Beach and crowds grow further, restricted access to the sand is likely to be implemented within the next hour 2-3pm,” a spokeswoman said.
“If you haven’t left for the beach yet, please rethink your trip and check on capacity later in the day.”
A spokeswoman told Guardian Australia the warning kept enough beachgoers away and the council was not forced to cut off access to new visitors. The warning was the first issued since the council’s Covid-19 summer plan was announced early last week.
When Bondi Beach’s capacity of about 6,000 is reached, no one on the sand will be asked to leave, but people seeking to enter will be told to visit local shops and cafes until enough people leave and “beach ambassadors” consider it safe to reopen.
The mayor, Paula Masselos, said on Monday that the “long weekend has really been a tester for this summer”.
“We did nearly reach capacity at Bondi Beach today, but thankfully people got our message of coming back another time,” she said. “At no point did we need to restrict access to the sand.”
Further south, lifeguards worked with police to manage crowd numbers at North Cronulla beach to ensure social distancing was respected.
“Those intending to visit beaches within the Sutherland Shire are encouraged to explore other areas of the Bate Bay coastline that are currently less crowded, or delay their visit until crowd numbers subside,” the council said in the early afternoon.
A spokesman for Sutherland Shire Council later told Guardian Australia that despite the police presence, the warning meant enough people avoided the beach so capacity was not reached, and access was not shut off to new visitors.
Large crowds were also reported on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, with a council spokesman telling Guardian Australia that all beaches, despite nearing capacity, remained open to new visitors.
NSW government rules stipulate people on the sand are required to keep a 1.5 metre distance between themselves and anyone from a different household. Restrictions limiting outdoor gathering to 20 apply on beaches.
Warmer weather in autumn was a pressure test of the public’s ability to adhere to Covid-19 restrictions early in the pandemic.
The risk of coronavirus spreading in mucus in water, new life-saving protocols that ban mouth to mouth resuscitation and crowd control measures are all set to alter the beachgoing experience this summer.
