Lifestyle & Culture

In the Park — With, and Without, Masks

By Tenzin Lama

Spectrum staff

After quarantine had left children and adults antsy from spending so much time indoors, people who recently made their way to Windmuller Park in Woodside, Queens were having lots of fun outdoors — even though many didn’t wear masks or social distance.

“This is the most crowded I’ve ever seen the park,” said Doug Estella, a park-goer.

He was masked. But he made sure to steer clear of the basketball court, crowded with teen and young adult b-ballers. Instead, for exercise, he walked the outer track.

A park employee gave Adam Silva, 15, and Xavier Torres, 16, masks, after hearing Silva forgot his. Torres is diabetic and his sister has respiratory problems. Was he worried about his health? “I don’t think about it, to be honest” Torres said, mumbling.

On a different day in July, Windmuller Park wasn’t jam-packed at all. At 3:40 p.m., under the 97-degree sun, just six teenage boys were playing basketball on a court with four hoops. On the nearby playground, a few barefooted kids danced on concrete through spraying water, while their parents sat on the surrounding benches, watching. Some parents were masked, but none of the children were.

Wilma Figueroa, a mother of two, said it’s hard to wear a wet mask. She also said that public space is such a needed thing right now. “People like me don’t have the luxury of a backyard,” she said. “So, we need to go to the park.”

Ten middle-aged men were on a handball court. Four played racquetball, two with masks and two without. Six other men sat shoulder-to-shoulder under the shade in their foldable chairs. Of the six, only two wore a mask.

Park-goers reflected the faces of melting pot, densely populated New York City, where the coronavirus has hit Hispanics and African Americans especially hard, whether in job losses or deaths or in limiting how far they can move about in what had been an epicenter of the pandemic. Throughout New York City, Hispanics accounted for 34 percent of Covid-19 fatalities, but make up 29 percent of the population. Blacks  accounted for 28 percent of Covid-19 fatalities, but make up 22 percent of the population.

By race, residents of Woodside were 44 percent Asian, 35 percent Hispanic, 17 percent white and 2 percent black, while 1 percent were some other race, according to the most recent Census data.

The music booming through that park reflected those faces and cultures.

By 6 p.m. that July day, the temperature had cooled and the humidity had fallen. That drew more people into the park. The activity kept going. Kids’s shouts echoed off the nearby buildings. Kids took to the swings, monkey bars and slides. There was soccer, volleyball, frisbee and skateboarding. On the track, young people ran laps but elders strolled casually.