Medical waste including used needles washed up on beaches in Maryland, Delaware and Virginia over the weekend, prompting officials to temporarily ban swimming.
The beaches began closing to swimmers Sunday.
At the Assateague Island National Seashore, all of the beaches in the Maryland and Virginia sections have been closed to swimming, with the northern end of the Maryland section shut down to all visitation, officials posted on Facebook.
Seashore officials added that they did not know where the used needles, syringes and assorted trash came from. The trash has included cigar tips and feminine hygiene products, Maryland Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Gregg Bortz told The Associated Press.
Assateague park personnel collected about 50 needles along with enough other trash to fill a five-gallon bucket Sunday, Angela Baldwin, park manager for Maryland’s Assateague State Park, told Shore Daily News.
Ocean City, Maryland, also shut down swimming. No new medical waste washed ashore during Tuesday’s high tide, but the city has kept the beaches closed for swimming due to “rough surf, limited guards, and an abundance of caution,” city officials said on Facebook.
Ocean City officials want to perform water testing as well in the hopes of reopening the beaches for the upcoming weekend.
As of Tuesday, the beaches were also closed to swimming in Lewes, Rehoboth, Dewey, Bethany, South Bethany and Fenwick Island, Delaware, due to the debris, according to the Delaware News Journal.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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