Recreation facilities, programs closed to limit spread of COVID-19

With COVID-19 now spreading through Bay Area counties, I am temporarily closing all City of Berkeley recreation programs, recreation centers, pools and clubhouses to limit the ways this virus can spread.

This coronavirus is so new that there are no approved medicines nor vaccines, meaning that non-pharmaceutical interventions such as these are essential to limiting how many are infected. City of Berkeley Health Officer Dr. Lisa Hernandez has recommended limiting gatherings to no more than 250 people and to no more than 10 of those more susceptible to severe COVID-19 illness – people over 60 or those with chronic conditions. Kids home from closed schools should also stay home as much as possible.

As City Manager, I am marshalling all of our available resources to limit the impact of COVID-19 in Berkeley. We will be looking to see how we can use these temporarily shuttered facilities to support the City’s nurses, paramedics, police officers, outreach workers and others on the front lines against COVID-19.

Closures Starting Monday March 16, 2020

Recreation Centers:

• Live Oak Community Center
• James Kenney Community Center
• Frances Albrier Community Center
• Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Services Center / Young Adult Project (YAP)
• Willard Clubhouse
• Shorebird Park Nature Center & Adventure Playground

Aquatic Centers:

• King Pool
• West Campus Pool

Recreation Customer Service

• Contact us via phone or email, recreation@cityofberkeley.info or 510 981-5150. Physical offices will be closed to the public.

Programs, including:

• Afterschool programs
• Spring Break Camps
• Aquatics programs, including swim lessons, drop-in programs, lap swim, and the Berkeley Barracudas afterschool program
• Recreation and athletic programs, including youth and adult sports, leagues, drop-in activities, open gym, classes
• Tots/Pre-K programs, teen programs, and field trips

City-Wide Recreation Division Special Events

• Shoreline Cleanup – April 25th
• Flashlight Egg Hunt – April 10th
• Spring Egg Hunt – April 11th
• Berkeley Bay Festival – April 18th
• 2020 Census Event – April 4th

Parks still open:

Note: please stay current of all public health guidelines about gathering at cityofberkeley.info/coronavirus when using these sites.

• City of Berkeley Parks
• City of Berkeley Fields. Permitted user groups may utilize sports fields as scheduled. We will refund time unused due to COVID-19.
• Berkeley Skate Park
• Picnic Sites, Tennis Court, and Pickleball Reservations
• Berkeley Marina: Remaining open, with the exception of Adventure Playground and Shorebird Park Nature Center programs.

We will refund payments for any canceled programs or facility rentals. Please see our list of service changes and closures for further information.

Our city has only three lab-confirmed cases, who each had known exposures not acquired in the community and are isolated. Yet, as Dr. Hernandez has urged us to examine, we also have cases spreading in our county as well as others without a known source. Our elders and those with chronic conditions particularly need us to act.

We must act decisively.

Dee Williams-Ridley
Berkeley City Manager