BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin (2020)

DC -- Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin (2020):

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Description of Pictures: The cherry blossoms peaked but it was Covid-19 time.
I had not intended to see the cherry blossoms this time because of Covid-19 but the weather was great. I decided to avoid the crowds and see them at West Potomac Park (Hains Point) instead of the main Tidal Basin but WPP was closed and, as I was forced to circle around, I realized no one was doing the Tidal Basin for the reasons I had skipped them. So I went.
There were maybe 400 people for the entire circle. Normally I struggle to take pictures without people in them. This year, I deliberately tried in some of the photos to have people to photograph.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. CHERRY_200322_009.JPG: I have to admit it's so strange looking at these pictures from March 22 three months later. The only thing I think of is that no one is wearing a mask and it seems like it's a scene from another planet.
2. CHERRY_200322_024.JPG: Normally, the cherry blossoms during their peak would be being seen by tens of thousands of people. Here they were on a Sunday, just after noon, at their absolute peak, but there's no one here. The shutdown orders for the city due to COVID-19 had just come out. The police had closed off most of the streets around the area to keep drive-by gawkers away and open up streets for social distancing of pedestrians. I had not planned on actually going down to see the blossoms, thinking I would see the ones on East Potomac Park instead. But the police had closed off East Potomac Park and as I got rerouted all over hell, I realized there were very few people actually looking at cherry blossoms this year because of fear. So I did the Tidal Basin thing, worried about getting sick and dying, but not encountering enough people to make that a real possibility.
3. CHERRY_200322_037.JPG: COVID-19 Safety Although National Mall and Memorial Parks is [sic] not closed, we encourage all visitors, particularly the most vulnerable, including the elderly and people with underlying conditions, to make smart decisions and to follow CDC guidance to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. These measures include: * Practice social distancing; * Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds; * Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze; * Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth; * Most importantly, please stay home if you feel sick. [Note that it doesn't mention wearing a mask. That hadn't become a recommendation yet.]
4. CHERRY_200322_056.JPG: Millions of gloves and masks were ultimately littered around the landscape. The interesting thing at this point is that very few people actually had masks.
5. CHERRY_200322_073.JPG: Articles have said that the tidal part of the Tidal Basin has gotten worse because of climate change.
6. CHERRY_200322_246.JPG: Cherry blossoms during Covid-19. The blossoms were out, the people were not. I had not intended to see the cherry blossoms this time because of Covid-19 but the weather was great. I decided to avoid the crowds and see them at West Potomac Park (Hains Point) instead of the main Tidal Basin but WPP was closed and, as I was forced to circle around, I realized no one was doing the Tidal Basin for the reasons I had skipped them. So I went.
  
  There were maybe 400 people around the entire Basin circuit. Normally I struggle to take pictures without people in them. This year, I deliberately tried in some of the photos to have people to photograph.
7. CHERRY_200322_335.JPG: If cherry blossoms peak and no one sees them because of Covid-19, did they really peak? I figure people need something bright and cheerful during this period. Life and good things still happen and it's important to remember that.
8. CHERRY_200322_362.JPG: Streets around the Tidal Basin were closed off to allow social distancing.
9. CHERRY_200322_366.JPG: They had closed off most of the streets around the Tidal Basin to make sure that people didn't crowd the sidewalks too much during Covid-19 time.
10. CHERRY_200322_384.JPG: This was the only jet I saw the entire time I was down there.
11. CHERRY_200322_463.JPG: Blocking off the streets to promote social distancing.
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