Photos of crowded Orange County beaches ricocheted across the internet over the weekend while temperatures soared into the 80s and 90s across the region, but in Long Beach, city officials shared some counter-programming.

“Long Beach, a big THANK YOU for not going out to our beaches this weekend. We know it’s very tough, but you’re helping save lives,” the city tweeted with a photo showing a mostly deserted coastline.

Even as some city-run beaches in Orange County stayed open and other nearby cities like Manhattan Beach experimented with limited reopening of parks, Long Beach kept its sand, sports facilities and public trails shuttered to slow the spread of COVID-19.

As the hot weekend approached, Long Beach officials warned residents that the local stay-at-home orders are still in effect.

Apparently not everyone heeded the warning. From Friday to Sunday, Long Beach police got 91 calls reporting people breaking social distancing rules, Public Information Officer Ivan Garcia said. That’s significantly more than the average of 10 to 12 per day Chief Robert Luna said the department typically receives.

But, according to Garcia, anyone police talked to about the rules over the weekend ended up complying without the need for a citation or an arrest.

“The weather did not cause any issues for enforcing health orders at beaches or parks,” he said in an email.

Further south, Huntington Beach police said that despite the viral pictures of its crowded beaches, most people were abiding by the necessary restriction.

Police and lifeguards on patrol found that “the majority of people (were) staying in their own unit,” the city said in a statement. “If not they are educated and have complied.”

Nevertheless, on Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom scolded residents about the images from Orange County as “an example of what not to see, people, what not to do” if Californians want to continue bending the curve of infections.

Newsom said the state is looking at options for more aggressive enforcement and new strategies or closures to keep people away from beaches.

“I cannot impress upon people more, the only thing that will set us back is our behavior,” Newsom said. “The only thing that will set us back is people stopping to practice physical distancing and appropriate social distancing.”

In that vein, the Newport Beach City Council will consider temporary weekend beach closures at a special meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Over the weekend, visitors there cruised around seaside neighborhoods searching for parking and packed sidewalks that are inches from people’s front yards, said Diane Dixon, a councilwoman whose district runs along the beach.

“The residents are accustomed to summer visitors. This is not an issue in normal times. But in a pandemic it creates a lot of concerns, and our older residents are especially at risk,” Dixon said.

City News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jeremiah Dobruck is managing editor of the Long Beach Post. Reach him at [email protected] or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.