Don’t know really, but imagine if the virus couldn’t survive in chlorine then maybe we could all drink chlorine!! 
but you don’t want them floaters anyway!!
I’m in Seoul and gyms/pools opened a few weeks ago.
Temperature is taken at the entrance. Masks are required at the gym (and pretty much anywhere else in the city). Some people are starting to get lax but a majority of people still follow the guidelines. Hand sanitizer is provided anywhere you go. Aside from the pool and showers, people are required to wear masks.
Just a thought as I saw that they have found Covid19 virus in human crap, not sure why they tested it but apparently it can live for a long time in crap so I hope no one out there swimming is going to do any do do’s especially the kids in the pool as it will take more than a shock treatment to the pool to get rid of that virus!! ugh I know but I was shocked to read about it.
from what i understand, chlorine kills coronavirus very effectively, it just takes time and/or concentration so an overnight shock treatment will take care of it no problem.
so with crap in the pool covid is the least of your worries (the other worries are significant)
The great outdoors is similar to a negative pressure indoor environment, so an outdoor pool might not be too unsafe. Indoors is another matter. I am reminded of the choir in Washington. 60 people at choir practice, about 45 cases a couple weeks later and at least two deaths. I am not sure anyone knows whether opening an indoor pool is a good idea, but I guess we will know in a couple weeks.
Hi all,
As some places around the world are opening some degree of business and recreation, pools will fall in line on the list.
One of our posters from Sweden answered the questions below in the May Fish Thread, but it may be helpful to see what it being applied from around the world as we may be able to learn from each other and either influence or implement at our local venues.
So if you want and can take a shot here are some questions:
when you swim at pools locally do you have limitations in terms of people being able to enter the change roomsare there additional limitations on swimmers per lane during public swim before Covid19 broke outare there additional cleaning measures in the change rooms?are teams able to practice and if they can, at full capacity or reducedare visits also time limitedare they conducting kids lessonsare they conducting seniors aqua fit sessionsdo you need to show you are symptom free etcany additional rules that are new that did not exist previously worth noting?
Our state government (Vic, AUS) announced a slight easing of restrictions that kick in after 11.59pm tonight, but unfortunately, gyms & pools (even outdoors) were not mentioned. So it looks like at least 3 more weeks of swimming in the bay.
The great outdoors is similar to a negative pressure indoor environment, so an outdoor pool might not be too unsafe. Indoors is another matter. I am reminded of the choir in Washington. 60 people at choir practice, about 45 cases a couple weeks later and at least two deaths. I am not sure anyone knows whether opening an indoor pool is a good idea, but I guess we will know in a couple weeks.
I won’t be going to the gym anytime soon. I’m not doing any triathlons this year. I can do any other workouts at home. I’m not interested in being in enclosed areas for any length of time
In Alberta, it will take few months before gyms / pools reopen. Pretty sure they will wait until the number of new case is somewhere around zero. So physical distancing will no longer be required… TDB
I should have also mentioned in this thread if your pool is indoor or outdoor. This would make a difference in some operations. Lots of Northern US, Canada, Europe, would mainly be indoor pools. Where I live (Ottawa Canada), there is no timeline formally to re open pools and gyms operated by the city. Hopefully pools can open sooner than gyms.
We’ve had 6 confirmed Covid-19 cases in my county, all recovered. Haven’t had a new case in nearly 3 weeks. Never the less, my city announced today that the outdoor aquatic center will not open this season. That means the local sprint triathlon, scheduled for the second weekend is August, is cancelled. All summer outdoor kids’ sports programs (mainly baseball/softball) have been cancelled as well. The governor has advised the schools in this state to be prepared to conduct online instruction in the fall.
I have no hope that the YMCA in the next county over, where I do most of my swim training, will open their indoor pool anytime soon.
Austin YMCA is reopening June 1 (pools can open earlier than that from Gov’s orders). Austin public pools probably waiting even longer.
Changes they plan to implement:
- Locker rooms closed (no word on if you can use the toilets or not at all)
- Not sure yet on lane restrictions. It is unusual for folks to really circle swim at these pools due to how drastically different most are in terms of speed (there is no fast->slow organizing here)
- Whole facility has been ‘deep cleaned according to state and CDC guidelines’
- Don’t think any group activities are taking place that aren’t virtual classes
- Not sure yet, but a ‘reservation system’ is mentioned for some of the facility resources
- Don’t think so. Also no word on if the kid care area will be open, which is kinda a requirement for those of us with a working spouse as nearly all childcare is closed.
- no
- Yes, temperature checks and health questions are addressed at time of entry
- Masks on unless exercising. They also say fingertip to wrist gloves are required the whole time. Not sure how that will work, as I don’t think they can expect everyone to show up with a new pair of gloves (or two, should probably discard whatever pair you walk in with and get a new one after working out). They might have meant this as a requirement for staff but they left that out of the email.
Also no guests allowed, which isn’t surprising, however they did tell everyone who didn’t cancel their membership that we would be getting a special membership tier with a few extra perks, one of which would be unlimited guest passes.
The indoor/outdoor pool would be great to know. I’m in Georgia and while we were one of the first to “re-open”, pools are still closed. I’m thinking the outdoor pools may re-open soon, idk?
One thing I’m curious about is HVAC design for indoor pool facilities. I’ve done HVAC design in the past in the commercial/residential markets and have been in the mission critical market the past few years. I’ve set through a few continuing education seminars about how HVAC design has different requirements and items that need to be evaluated in the indoor pool design vs. a typical design. I’m curious how that would effect the spread COVID on the assumption it’s spread via droplets… I assume the HVAC system is completely different than the rest of the building so it is less likely you would risk contamination from people outside the pool area.
ASHRAE is already releasing updated guidelines for HVAC operation for office buildings. One thing I found interesting is that required almost always bringing in outside air into a space even if unoccupied. This is going to be huge for property managers in terms of current leases because they usually only run a building’s HVAC in occupied hours (7:30am-6pm). Having to run it all the time is going to going to drive the costs up.
I’m also curious how filtration systems will change on units to try to limit the virus in recirculating air. Will a UV light section be added to new builds or will the air be moving so fast it really doesn’t affect it. I really don’t see retrofits or new builds being impacted for 18-24 months, so at that point the virus may have a vaccine or herd immunity already achieved.
We’ve had 6 confirmed Covid-19 cases in my county, all recovered. Haven’t had a new case in nearly 3 weeks. Never the less, my city announced today that the outdoor aquatic center will not open this season. That means the local sprint triathlon, scheduled for the second weekend is August, is cancelled. All summer outdoor kids’ sports programs (mainly baseball/softball) have been cancelled as well. The governor has advised the schools in this state to be prepared to conduct online instruction in the fall.
I have no hope that the YMCA in the next county over, where I do most of my swim training, will open their indoor pool anytime soon.
Where are you??? With no deaths in your county and only 6 confirmed cases, you’d think they’d let the pools reopen. Not opening all summer seems like big time overkill.
In my original post I asked if there are any senior’s aquafit classes. I should also add, whether they have removed seniors’ swims or won’t allow you in if you are over a certain age range. In theory the bulk of deaths are above a certain age range who are the most vulnerable. This would clearly smack of social engineering, but the entire scene in all countries is not social engineering.
On the extreme other end, kids and teens pose almost no risk to each other. They could play and train in a Covid19 filled pool environment but they would spread it when they leave, but are kids programs getting more preference at your pools since at the pool they are generally not about to die from what happens at the pool (the same rationale for some regions opening up kids schools first).
Dev
In my original post I asked if there are any senior’s aquafit classes. I should also add, whether they have removed seniors’ swims or won’t allow you in if you are over a certain age range. In theory the bulk of deaths are above a certain age range who are the most vulnerable. This would clearly smack of social engineering, but the entire scene in all countries is not social engineering.
On the extreme other end, kids and teens pose almost no risk to each other. They could play and train in a Covid19 filled pool environment but they would spread it when they leave, but are kids programs getting more preference at your pools since at the pool they are generally not about to die from what happens at the pool (the same rationale for some regions opening up kids schools first).
Dev
Dev - None of the pools here have reopened yet but the main fitness areas of the gyms I frequent have. They require you to answer Qs (Do you feel sick? Have you had any contact with…?) and to wear a mask but do not ask your age. I think that banning those over XX years would be consid age discrimination.
Our pool is sending out emails saying they’ll be open by Memorial Day. I expect it’ll only be the outdoor pool with no classes and no locker room. Covid has been great for my run and bike fitness as I’ve been on a reduced work schedule with extra training time and I haven’t been distracted by my continued futile attempts to become a smooth swimmer.
Our pool is sending out emails saying they’ll be open by Memorial Day. I expect it’ll only be the outdoor pool with no classes and no locker room. Covid has been great for my run and bike fitness as I’ve been on a reduced work schedule with extra training time and I haven’t been distracted by my continued futile attempts to become a smooth swimmer.
Where are you??? I’m in Knoxville, TN.
So here on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane public pools are allowed to open but with only 10 people at a time.I got a message from my local pool and the Sunshine Coast Council have decided not to open the pools at all because with only 10 people allowed at a time,it just isn’t worth the manpower required to run their facilities…Good on them I say as this is precisely the lesson all the bars and restaurants are about to learn in trying to operate with only 10 customers at a time.
So here on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane public pools are allowed to open but with only 10 people at a time.I got a message from my local pool and the Sunshine Coast Council have decided not to open the pools at all because with only 10 people allowed at a time,it just isn’t worth the manpower required to run their facilities…Good on them I say as this is precisely the lesson all the bars and restaurants are about to learn in trying to operate with only 10 customers at a time.
Yes, putting pools aside, if businesses are restricted to the point that its impossible, after a short time of trying, many will sadly have to cave. On the flip side, even if you could operate at full steam, citizens will have to roll the dice and overcome fear and do stuff involving spending too. Are your pools privately run or publicly run. For those that are run publicly, in theory they have an infinite coffer to go back to and open up later. For the private ones, they need to have a chance to make money or as you said, “why bother” at which point they can easily go bankrupt and just close shop permanently.
So here on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane public pools are allowed to open but with only 10 people at a time.I got a message from my local pool and the Sunshine Coast Council have decided not to open the pools at all because with only 10 people allowed at a time,it just isn’t worth the manpower required to run their facilities…Good on them I say as this is precisely the lesson all the bars and restaurants are about to learn in trying to operate with only 10 customers at a time.
Yes, putting pools aside, if businesses are restricted to the point that its impossible, after a short time of trying, many will sadly have to cave. On the flip side, even if you could operate at full steam, citizens will have to roll the dice and overcome fear and do stuff involving spending too. Are your pools privately run or publicly run. For those that are run publicly, in theory they have an infinite coffer to go back to and open up later. For the private ones, they need to have a chance to make money or as you said, “why bother” at which point they can easily go bankrupt and just close shop permanently.
Most are public,council supervised facilities leased to a company called SwimFit and that is why they are holding off.There is one closer to Noosa that is private which has opened to appointments only.There is also a big one in a private school but I don’t know what they are up to.If worst came to worst and I really needed to swim laps I could always knock on the Grangers door up the road with a case of wine and I reckon I’d get some pool time in their backyard. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_lWB1trWlM
I don’t see our pools opening until the fall. Some of the summer pool clubs sent out notices that they wouldn’t be opening on Memorial Day, as they usually do, and would be waiting to see if they open at all this summer.
I see a lot of lake and ocean swimming coming this summer.
I just want to thank the folks who have been replying to this thread. I’ve been forwarding the information to the management of my local YMCA. Two pools some distance from me will be reopening on Monday, but I haven’t yet seen the rules. Both those pools are outdoors. The management of my local YMCA has not yet made a reopening decision. My local YMCA has an indoor pool, so that may be a factor in keeping it closed.