Dreaming of an Easter weekend at an NC beach? Could be a nightmare.

In a typical year, Easter weekend is prime time to visit North Carolina’s beaches. Vacationers flock to the coast and awaken the towns from their off-season quietude.

Business owners count on the holiday to bring in shoppers, fill restaurant dining rooms and activate the towns with the first signs of summer.

This year, however, COVID-19 could dash the hopes of anyone dreaming of an Easter escape to the beach, not to mention the financial salvation these beach towns were counting on.

Under North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s stay-at-home order, set through April 29 for now, people must limit travel outside their residence to “essential activities.” The order does not specifically outline the protocol for traveling between North Carolina’s counties or staying in short-term accommodations like beach rentals.

When it comes to beach towns, the rules fall under local jurisdiction. And when discrepancies arise between state, county and town orders, the most restrictive rules supersede the others.

That means popular beach destinations in New Hanover, Pender, Carteret, Hyde and Dare counties each have their own “state of emergency” declarations. The measures range in severity from towns banning all short-term rentals to closing all public and private beaches, which New Hanover County is doing.

Beach towns in Dare and the Currituck Outer Banks are using 24/7 police checkpoints to prevent nonresidents from entering. In order to board the ferry to Ocracoke Island in Hyde County, vehicle passengers need proof of permanent residency or proof that they’re working on critical repairs to their property. Vehicles carrying nonresidents are asked to turn around.

However, a shared plea for their visitors unifies these coastal towns: Stay home.

“We are asking all citizens to comply with Gov. Roy Cooper’s stay-at-home order. Remaining at one’s permanent place of residence is the safest approach for combating COVID-19. Stay at home,” said Matt Zapp, Emerald Isle’s town manager. “For a community anchored in hospitality, this is a very difficult message to send and share.”

In Emerald Isle and in other towns, the coronavirus has put people in an unfamiliar position of actually discouraging tourism — the main industry for their economies.

Stay home

North Carolina’s beach towns issued similar statements urging visitors to adhere to the governor’s stay-at-home order and refrain from traveling for nonessential reasons.

“We strongly encourage everyone to stay at home,” Bruce Oakley, town manager in Carolina Beach, wrote in an email.

In Pender County, the towns of North Topsail Beach, Topsail Beach and Surf City each set their own travel restrictions. Topsail Mayor Steven George Smith wrote in a town news release this week: “We are requesting that property owners (resident and non-resident) please remain at their primary place of residence until further guidance is provided and non-essential travel is deemed safe by our state leaders.”

A press release from North Topsail Beach on Thursday said: “With the holiday weekend fast approaching, we would like to take the opportunity to again ask all residents and property owners to respect and follow the travel restrictions and guidelines outlined in the Governor’s ‘Stay At Home’ order. We request that you stay at your primary place of residence until further guidance is provided and our state leaders deem it safe to travel.”

Surf City includes residents in the push to keep people at home.

“The town is asking all residents to suspend all nonessential travel to and from town,” Town Manager Kyle Breuer said. “We’re even pleading with second-home owners to refrain from traveling in. There’s no checkpoint, though, just the same restrictions as the one statewide.”

“It’s pretty quiet right now, and that’s how we want it,” Pender County Tourism Director Tammy Proctor said about the beaches on Topsail Island.

‘Nonessential’ visitors

Short-term visits to North Carolina’s beaches must wait for the time being. Hotels and motels have closed to visitors traveling for “nonessential” reasons, as outlined by Executive Order 121. “Essential reasons” for needing accommodation apply to residents seeking shelter outside of households with infected individuals and medical personnel.

In Wrightsville, Carolina and Kure beaches in New Hanover County, short-term renters even face written citations and fines if they’re found in rental homes — as do the owners renting their properties.

Even the second-home owners, who make up a significant portion of coastal visitors during Easter, are begged to comply with the stay-at-home order by remaining in their primary residences. However, there are no legal restrictions to prevent them from accessing their properties, outstanding Currituck beaches, Dare and Hyde counties.

“We know there are a lot of folks who own second homes [on Topsail Island], but we’re encouraging them to stay home,” Proctor said.

For people who do choose to travel to second homes, she requests they follow the Center for Disease Control’s recommendations to practice social distancing and self-quarantine themselves and their close contacts for a 14-day period upon arriving.

“If you have a home here and decide to stay at home and shelter in place here in Atlantic Beach, you’re welcome to do that, we just don’t want you to go back and forth between Atlantic Beach and Raleigh or Charlotte or Greenville,” Atlantic Beach Mayor Trace Cooper said Thursday in a Facebook Live broadcast. “So you’re here, stay here. If you’re home stay home.”

Their emergency order discourages travel but does not prohibit it. Still, the second-home owners who choose not to comply with the stay-at-home orders can expect a very different sort of beach getaway this year.

Attractions closed

Towns have limited access to their main attraction: the beach itself. New Hanover closed their entire beach strand for all towns and unincorporated communities in addition to all boat ramps and marinas. Beach towns in Carteret closed all public parking and water accesses. Topsail Beach also closed public parking lots at beach and sound-side accesses.

In Surf City, all public beach accesses, parks, public parking and town facilities are closed.

Only businesses in the “essential” category as outlined in Executive Order 121 remain open. Many shops are operating under shorter hours, and in accordance with Gov. Cooper’s Executive Order 131, they implement additional social distancing guidelines that limit the number of people allowed in a store at a time. Restaurants only allow curbside take-out and delivery.

In these coastal communities’ tourism-based economies, the small businesses rely on outsiders for the majority of their annual income. They know the collective urging for visitors to refrain from traveling comes as a blow to the local economies.

“We are a community of predominantly small businesses. This is an incredibly challenging time for all of our small business owners and their employees,” Don Kirkman, Carteret County’s economic development director, said in a press release this week.

Through current measures and restrictions, coastal counties and town administrators hope to help curb the spread of COVID-19 in North Carolina — and they hope beach facilities will be operating as usual in the next couple of months.

“Nobody wants this, but it’s what we have to do right now so that we have a healthier summer season,” Proctor said.

For updates about beach towns’ responses to the virus and their protective measures, including closures and travel restrictions, check the towns’ official websites.

This story was originally published April 10, 2020 at 2:51 PM.