BRYAN, Texas — As summer in quarantine continues, some public and apartment pools are slowly opening back up.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no current evidence coronavirus can be spread to humans through recreational waters.
“However, the same rules apply in the water that apply out of water as far as physical distancing. A number of pools are recommending that if they are lane pools, that they close down the lanes between lanes, so every other lane, and if you’re in a pool that doesn’t have lanes, you have to kind of stay a minimum of 6 feet physically distant from people not in your family," said Texas A&M School of Public Health professor Angela Clendenin.
When you’re not in the water, you should be wearing a mask. If you are using communal equipment, make sure they are disinfected.
“Good hygiene that we practice on land is the same good hygiene you need to be practicing in the water. If you can do that, if you can abide by that particular guidance, then you should be able to go enjoy the pool safely," said Clendenin.
Pool managers and staff may also need to put in extra work to make sure people are staying safe and healthy by their pools.
“If they don’t take the time to sanitize in between uses, then they’re putting people at risk by not knowing, and so understanding how to completely disinfect a lounge chair, understanding how to completely disinfect pool noodles and pool toys is going to be vitally important and it really takes dedicated people to be able to keep up with what has been sanitized and what hasn’t," said Clendenin.
That is exactly what one local facility is doing. The Bryan Aquatic Center opened earlier this month for lap swimming only to enforce social distancing.
“We can have one person per lane and we’re starting on opposite ends of that swim lane, and then it’s also the function of just having staff available, so knowing that we only have a limited number of staff available, we’re able to socially distance while doing lap swimming," said Bryan Aquatic supervisor Marty Mulgrew.
You are able to reserve a 45 minute time slot to swim laps, then the staff will take half an hour to disinfect the locker rooms and high touch areas. Sanitation and cleaning is crucial to keeping facilities open this summer.