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Shells pile up on North Carolina beach as COVID-19 ban keep tourists away

Published  April 17, 2020 6:45am EDT
North Carolina
Storyful

North Carolina beaches overrun by seashells

Since the pandemic began, seashells began piling up at the Outer Banks in North Carolina as tourists are banned from the beaches.

OUTER BANKS, N.C. - Seashells piled up on the beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina as a ban on visitors due to the coronavirus outbreak left no one to collect them, local media reported.

This video, posted to Cape Lookout National Seashore’s Facebook page on April 13, shows a carpet of shells across the sand near the ocean shore.

The Charlotte Observer reported that the shells were “normally snapped up by families on spring break”. However, tourists had been barred by roadblocks preventing access to many popular locations to all but locals.

North Carolina had 5,465 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of April 16, while 131 people had died in the state as a result of the virus, according to health officials.