Beach Towns Are Next to Take the Hit

Coney Island on Memorial Day was a shadow of its usual summer self. The Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel—the iconic roller coaster and Ferris wheel—stood idle. The line for hot dogs at the nation’s first Nathan’s seemed long, but only because masked customers stood a few extra feet apart. A limited number of other restaurants and bars served carryout only, but there was nary a wait anywhere else.

This story is playing out in dozens of shore towns along America’s coastline at the start of Pandemic Summer, as beaches become important cultural and fiscal components of a piecemeal national effort to loosen lockdowns and dial up much-needed economic activity, while avoiding a feared spike in coronavirus cases.

Police officers and Parks Department employees patrolled the Coney Island boardwalk Monday, which was crowded but not packed during the sunniest, warmest part of the