STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
How are people trying to meet safely during the pandemic? The outdoors is a big part - visiting from a distance on a porch or folding chairs in the yard. In Washington, D.C., NPR's Nina Kravinsky found people using the space inside a traffic circle.
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NINA KRAVINSKY, BYLINE: On a recent Friday evening, a group of people are dancing around a marble fountain in Dupont Circle, a historic park in downtown D.C.
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KRAVINSKY: Despite the occasional drizzle, picnickers are scattered around them on the benches, in the grass lawn. Many of them eating from takeout containers. Grace Guerrero Ramirez and Ari Davis are eating pizza they picked up from a place nearby.
ARI DAVIS: Yeah. We just - I mean, we're hungry and wanting to get some food, but we're not quite comfortable with, you know, sitting down at a actual restaurant.
KRAVINSKY: They're not alone. Parks across the city are drawing crowds normally seen only on weekends, according to D.C.'s Department of Parks and Recreation. For many city dwellers who don't have yards, parks offer a place to see their friends at a safe distance from strangers. And that's turning parks like this one, which is actually in the middle of a traffic circle, into social magnets for people like Guerrero Ramirez and Davis.
GRACE GUERRERO RAMIREZ: And it's really cool how people have, like, kind of like reappropriated the spaces. Like, we have people here dancing and listening to music. And it's just a really good vibe.
KRAVINSKY: They're enjoying a bit of alcohol with their dinner, which they've concealed in their water bottles. Other people in the park are drinking wine openly. There's actually been a 42% decrease in arrests for open container laws this summer. D.C. police say their focus is on helping stop the spread of COVID-19, and they emphasize that they're doing that through education on social distancing and mask-wearing rather than enforcement. Across the park, another group of picnickers is celebrating a holiday.
NEHA MISBAH: It's Eid al-Adha.
KRAVINSKY: Neha Misbah is from Florida, where COVID-19 infection rates are much higher than in D.C. That's why she didn't go home, like she usually does, for the Muslim feast of the sacrifice. This here is her social life now - and not just on holidays.
MISBAH: I've actually done this quite a few times to, like, meet up with people. Because most of us are usually here alone without our families. So yeah, we do a lot of picnics now.
KRAVINSKY: Misbah's friend, Ali Marmal, says he's tired of socializing only online.
ALI MARMAL: Sometimes FaceTime isn't really enough.
KRAVINSKY: Parks like Dupont Circle used to offer a break from the bustle of the city, but in the time of COVID-19, they're now very much a part of it.
Nina Kravinsky, NPR News, Washington.
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