Some pools will open this weekend, but they’ll look different. Others are waiting.
Almost nothing has felt normal since March, when COVID-19 was first detected in North Carolina, but one rite of summer — the opening of swimming pools on Memorial Day weekend — is allowed under Phase Two of Gov. Roy Cooper’s reopening plan.
Cooper announced Wednesday that the state will lift additional restrictions in place since March to slow the spread of illness caused by the new coronavirus. As of 5 p.m. Friday, pools can open at half capacity with social-distance and sanitation rules in place.
Not all will immediately take the plunge, though.
Raleigh has delayed opening its four outdoor and four indoor pools until at least June 26. A Durham city spokeswoman said Thursday that Durham would not open three outdoor pools at all this season. Indoor municipal pools in the city are closed until further notice. Knightdale tentatively plans to open its pool June 6. Chapel Hill, which operates one indoor and one outdoor pool, has not announced a plan for opening those.
With guidance the state released Wednesday evening, hundreds of neighborhood, club, apartment and hotel pools and spas are getting ready to welcome swimmers, some as early as Saturday.
“There will be some social-distancing rules, just like when you go to the grocery store or to a retail shop,” said Will Stewart, one of three partners in the Raleigh AquaTech franchise, which manages about 40 swimming pools in the Triangle.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says there is no evidence the virus that causes COVID-19 is transmitted through the chlorinated water in pools, spas or splash pads, The News & Observer has reported.
Rather, the risk comes from being too close to an infected person while standing in the water, hanging out on the deck, at the snack bar or other common areas, or from touching contaminated surfaces such as handrails or locker-room doors.
How to distance at pools
Distance can be imposed in different ways at swimming pools, starting by limiting the number of people allowed in. Some homeowners associations already have notified their members that guests will not be allowed this summer, for instance. Most pools already have capacity limits set by fire codes, and operators will have to ensure that no more than half that number is at the pool at a time. If the pool doesn’t have a posted capacity, the state spells out the limits in its guidelines, which are similar to those crafted by the CDC.
Lounge chairs and other furniture can be moved apart to put at least 6 feet between family groups, and some pool operators may remove some of the chairs.
The guidelines suggest that operators:
manage the number of people at the pool by moving to a phone or online reservation system.
Install plastic shields at manned entry gates or other places where staff and patrons regularly interact.
place markings 6 feet apart in areas where people have to wait in line, such as entry points or at concession stands.
remove pool toys and shared exercise equipment near the pool.
provide face coverings for employees.
The state also suggests that pool patrons wear cloth face coverings while around the pool, but not in the water.
Pools must conduct daily screening of employees for symptoms of illness and immediately send home any employee who becomes ill, and must post signs asking people who are or have been sick not to enter.
Oscar Carmona, director of Raleigh’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources, said the city hopes to open some or all of its pools June 26. The city is taking extra time, he said, to make sure it can operate safely. Carmona said one factor the city took into consideration is that the number of reported cases of infection in the state continues to rise, though that’s at least in part because of recent dramatic increases in testing.
“We keep on asking ourselves certain questions,” Carmona said. “Like, ‘Can we provide this service and also provide for the general safety of the public and our staff?
“‘By reopening this service, are we doing it in a way that meets our goal of reducing the spread of the virus?’
“The last thing we want to do,” Carmona said in a phone interview with The News & Observer, “is open a swimming pool before we did our due diligence and have that pool become a place where infections occurred. So we’re really trying to take a gradual and safe approach.”
Staggered hours possible
Carmona said the city might limit some parts of pools to lap-swimming only, where swimmers are separated by lane dividers. He said the city also is considering the possibility of opening some pools and leaving others closed until later in the summer, or not opening some at all.
Another possibility, he said, is opening all the pools but having limited, staggered hours.
Raleigh’s four indoor pools normally are open year-round, and Carmona said the city has staff in place for those pools. Some of those workers could be assigned temporarily to outdoor pools in order to open them, Carmona said, while the city hires seasonal lifeguards and staff.
If only a portion of the city’s pools reopen, Carmona said, they would be chosen so that geographically, residents across the city would have equal access to one close to home.
In announcing that Durham Parks and Recreation would not open its three outdoor pools at all this year, spokeswoman Cynthia Booth said safety precautions required for opening the outdoor pools “would severely limit the number of our residents who would be able to access these services,” and the city strives to provide services equitably to everyone, Booth said.
“While this was a difficult decision, we have determined that the challenges described above outweigh the benefit to the few that we would be able to safely serve,” Booth said in an email to The News & Observer.
Derek Wall’s company, Triangle Aquatics, manages about 60 pools across Wake, Durham, Orange Johnston and Chatham counties. Wall said Thursday that a few of them will open in time for Memorial Day. The rest, he said, need more time to set up to operate under the new rules.
Wall said he has about 300 people hired, including lifeguards, to staff pools his company manages, but about half of the lifeguards still have to finish their training or recertification.
Relief to see pools reopening
Wall said he’s relieved to see pools getting ready to reopen, not just because it’s good for his business.
Wall said he was worried that, if pools didn’t open at all this year, many children would miss the opportunity to learn how to swim, and drowning is a leading cause of accidental death among children.
Also, he said, “It means a lot from a mental-health standpoint, and a physical-health standpoint. Exercise is important. Being able to socialize is important, even if it’s from 6 feet away.
“And a sense of normalcy for children is very important during the developmental years.”
Weather-wise, it should be a good weekend for jumping in or sitting by the water. Forecasts call for partly cloudy skies and high temperatures in the low 80s.
This story was originally published May 21, 2020 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Some pools will open this weekend, but they’ll look different. Others are waiting.."
