Beach communities are telling tourists to stay home

REHOBOTH, Del. (FOX 5 DC) - Right now is usually when people flock to area beaches like Ocean City and Rehoboth, Del. to get away. 

The COVID-19 crisis is forcing some to flock to these beach towns early, but are they wanted?

Signs all over Ocean City and Rehoboth are telling tourists to get away and stay off the beaches. 

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Delaware Speaker of the House Rep. Peter Schwartzkopf, who represents Rehoboth, says now is just not the time for tourists. 

“We don’t have anything for you to do down here,” says Schwartzkopf. “Nothing more down here that you have at your place. So please stay home just for a little while longer and as soon as we possibly can we’ll get the restaurants running and we’ll get the beaches open but not yet. We can’t do it yet.”

RELATED: Delaware governor: Out-of-state travelers must quarantine

He says Delaware State Troopers will be setting up checkpoints at major entries into Rehoboth. 

Schwartzkopf says they wont ticket you, but they will urge you to either turn around and go home or quarantine inside your destination for 14 days.

He says right now Delaware is going through a spike in positive COVID-19 cases that’s tied to the state’s chicken farms. He worries tourists will either bring more positive cases into the state or leave and infect others at their homes.

Delaware originally pegged May 15th as the day they would begin opening up their economy again but with the new spike in cases, Schwartzkopf doesn’t think that date will stay the same.

“We were pretty much on pace to look at that date but the last two days we’ve since doubled our deaths in seven days,” says Schwartzkopf.