The Memorial Day weekend marking the unofficial start of summer in the United States brought big crowds to some beaches, parks and other destinations across the country, and warnings from experts about people disregarding the coronavirus social-distancing rules.
The outbreak in the US, the hardest-hit country in the world, has killed nearly 100,000 people and infected 1,626,000.
In the Tampa area, along Florida's Gulf Coast, the crowds were so big that authorities took the extraordinary step of closing parking lots.
The county's sheriff, Bob Gualtieri, said about 300 deputies were patrolling the beaches to ensure people did not get too close.
In the state of Missouri, people packed bars and restaurants at the Lake of the Ozarks, a vacation hot spot popular with Chicagoans, over the weekend.
People gather on the beach for the Memorial Day weekend in Port Aransas, Texas [Eric Gay/The Associated Press].
"We're expecting there to be less people on the trails than being open all day," said Grand Canyon spokesperson Lily Daniels. »
![image for I was fortunate to have been photographing this galaxy when a supernova occurred. These two images show a “before and after” view as a star exploded over 50 million light years away. [OC]](ec4aee78-22f0-59e8-9005-c7b79087db2f_thumb.jpg)