Houston parks closed for Easter weekend until Monday morning

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Every park in Harris County, including the city of Houston, is closed for Easter weekend.

In a major reversal of an earlier position, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced the closure of about 380 parks and trails in the city. It began Thursday at sunset and will continue until Monday at sunrise.

Turner was moved to make the announcement after a staggering rise in the official COVID-19 case count. Houston added 615 more cases on Thursday alone. Since that count, Houston has already surpassed 2,000 cases by Friday evening.

The closures are similar to Harris County's order to close parks, which was announced the day before by Judge Lina Hidalgo.

Even past Monday morning, certain parts of city parks will remain closed until further notice, including all park playgrounds, basketball courts, exercise equipment, skateparks, water playgrounds, as well as City-owned golf courses, driving ranges, the Memorial Park Tennis Center, Lee LeClear Tennis Center, and the Homer Ford Tennis Center at MacGregor Park. Neighborhood tennis centers will reopen on Monday morning.

The city urged park visitors to maintain social distancing once parks reopen.

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