If you live in a private home, then it's safe to go out to your garden or patio. If you live in an apartment, it's also safe to go out into the garden, but you should wear a mask to minimize the risk to others. You should move quickly around common areas and wear a mask. Yes, you can go out into the garden, but if you have to cough or sneeze, do it on your elbow and wash your hands.
Many of the Garden paths are only 2 to 4 feet wide, so maintaining social distance is extremely difficult, if not impossible. If you've only used your back garden for sunbathing and occasional barbecues, now may be a good time to expand a bit. People using public transportation or walking can enter through the front door of Anderson Street or through any of the pedestrian gates in the Gardens. But parking will only be available in the Jardines parking lot, with no weekend overflow available in nearby college parking lots.
Playing or exercising in the garden is a great way to end the day, and it's important to get outdoors from time to time to keep vitamin D levels high. You should not have visitors in your home or garden if you have symptoms of COVID-19 or if you have received a positive test. The virus is not transmitted through the air, so breathing in the garden, for example, is unlikely to spread it to your neighbor's garden. In a normal year, more than 600,000 visitors flock to the Gardens, and even the widest paths can be very busy at peak times.
Not only will your garden look better by the time you finish, but you'll also have had plenty of fresh air and exercise that you would have missed if you had spent the afternoon watching TV. Duke Gardens will host several days of preview by appointment for members and supporters ahead of the June 1 opening. However, just because you stay at home doesn't necessarily mean you should stay at home; if you have a garden, you can use it even when you're self-isolating. Duke Gardens is also grateful to welcome its volunteers, who provide valuable assistance with visitor services, horticulture and other critical tasks.
