COVID-19 has come in the way of many family trips, making it impossible for some families to go on the vacations they had planned pre-covid. Some Brentsville families were able to make it on their trips despite the corona virus pandemic.

Freshman Addison Butler went on a vacation with her family to Topsail Beach, North Carolina. While staying on her grandparent’s property, the nationwide mandatory quarantine started and had shut down all public access to the beach. While also making stores shut down. 

While visiting the Outer Banks in early July, freshman Elizabeth Rice and her family noticed that even though the stores had a mandatory mask and social distancing guidelines, “people seemed to ignore them.” Ms. Rice stated, “people were standing elbow to elbow like the rules didn’t apply to them.” The beach was no different as there were no social distancing guidelines.  

Freshman Ireland Petrie also went on a vacation with her family to the Outer Banks. She visited from August 29 to September 5. While she and her family mostly stayed in, the days they decided to go to the beach, similarly to Ms. Rice’s experience,  “there were no guidelines being followed while we were out on the beach,” Ms. Petrie stated.

Freshman Karen Calderon went on a vacation with her family. They went to Virginia Beach on August 15. According to Ms. Calderon some of the guidelines at the beach were strict. Such guidelines as people must be at least six feet apart when in the water. People were not allowed past the ridge and all chairs must be spaced out at least six feet apart from each other. Ms. Calderon noted, “If you go past the ridge the lifeguards will blow their whistle and yell at you untill you get back.” 

Senior Julia Woolfrey went on a road trip to drop her older sister off at college. Ms. Woolfrey and her family drove down to Sarasota, Florida from August 3 to August 7. The entire trip was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The restrictions at hotels and extra precautions made the trip harder than normal. Moving her sister into college proved a challenge due to the mandatory social distancing guidelines. 

According to these reports, restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic very clearly differed from state to state. While beaches only over 200 miles away from each other can differ so greatly in rules and regulations. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unravel vacationers wishing to visit beaches this fall might not know what to expect. While schools and their students also are surrounded by the unknown. All we can do for know is follow guidelines and do are best to stay safe.