Mayor Lee Brand held a press conference in front of his home in Fresno announcing the closure of the city's parks for Easter weekend.

Mayor Lee Brand held a press conference outside his home in Fresno Wednesday to announce that parks in the city will be closed on the Easter weekend of April 11-12 in continued efforts to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

The city recently ordered the temporary closure of all playground equipment in its parks on March 31, and of city-owned park parking lots on March 24.

Because large groups tend to gather in city parks to celebrate the Easter holiday, Brand is asking the residents of the city to voluntarily refrain from going to parks.

Parks in the city will be closed off to everyone for the Easter weekend, including individuals wishing to take a walk or exercise.

If there are reports of people gathering in the city’s parks, police will be sent out to investigate, said Mark Standriff, Director of Communications.

Standriff said he expects residents to be compliant with the closures, and that at this point, violators will not be cited for being in a city park, but will be asked to leave.

Mayor Brand said that he is leading by example in following guidelines for people age 65 and older and is working from home as much as possible.

“People are creatures of habit. People want to socialize, be together. The holidays are coming up— families want to get together,” Brand said. “You can see what’s going on across the world—back East, New York—there are deadly consequences if we don’t do it right. We are all hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.”