Public swimming pools will be re-opening as soon as soon as 22 June in our area.
We are told that it will be necessary to reserve time slots in order limit the number of people in the pools at any one time. Swimming caps and showering with soap will be mandatory. But we have no more information about any other details of how it will work.
Although I would like to get back into regular swimming, I am not sure we know enough about the science. How effective is pool treatment in destroying viruses? It is almost impossible to avoid swallowing some water and there is no requirement to wear goggles, though we know that infection can occur through the eyes. Social distancing and surgical masks will obviously not be possible.
It has always been known that the warm, humid environment of indoor pools provides favourable conditions for viruses and pool staff are particularly susceptible to respiratory illnesses. So I think there is cause for concern that this re-opening will take place at a time when people will be holidaying in our area where there has been hardly any infection and therefore little immunity.
By September, we may have a better idea of how safe indoor swimming is going to be. Meantime, temperatures are rising and maybe sea swimming is a better option.
I would have thought the Mairie or the Prefecture (or whoever is responsible for the PBaths) would be able to provide information…
check their websites… and let us know what you find.
(I have read somewhere about… folk not allowed to take their own towels… must wear cozzies under their outer garments for a quick strip… strict hygiene and distancing… etc
I think it did talk about the water controls…
can’t recall where I read this… probably when another PBaths opened or was talking about opening… )
Not yet. And I don’t think 7 days is long enough to make the necessary arrangements.
where/how did you find out about the PB opening ???
Local paper and pool website.
Can you give us the link to either…
In this link… they say that risk of contamination in the pool… is low due to chlorine in the water… killing the virus… and that the risk of contamination is high in those areas where folk do not maintain distance etc etc in the coming and goings…
“A specific health protocol will be specified before the opening date”
Your link says that information will be published/made available… and this is not something which they will be thinking of “now”… it is something they will have been thinking of since the PB’s were closed.
As I say… I’ve already read the protocol for a PB opening up… and the aims are, as suggested, to offer minimum possibility for folk to pass the virus from one to another…
I never understood why they closed. Total Immersion in a biocide known to kill covid 19 has to be the best option. Any aerosol would also have been exposed to biocide.
I believe it was the possibility of cross contamination… outside of the pool area … in the changing cubicles … and wherever folk gather… coming and going…and what they had with them, bags or whatever…
The real problems occur during the changing, drying off process as has been mentioned, this is why, at least in the UK, public pools were closed. It is even more of a problem in a sports centre that contains a gym, tennis, cycling and the pool etc. All these people showering and changing together is apparently a very high risk. Using John’s logic we can arrive with covid 19, kill it off in the pool and potentially acquire it (again) in the changing room and take it home to share with others.
Always a possibility but as you said cubicals, safe, throat and airways of swimmers clean due to biocide. Bodies clean due to biocide. Even if a covid carrier came in the short duration in the cubical and anyone using it afterwards is just about to be totally immersed in biocide. Don’t get that level of sanitation in your food store.
Not if the simple incoming changing rooms were separated from the outgoing patrons. Incredibly easy to sanitise a cubical surface which they normally do when open before covid arrived.
don’t get me started on food stores… 
From what I have read… PBaths were seen as a possible high-risk due to the concentration of folk and inability to enforce regulations … and, maybe the Gov over reacted…but… better caution in the face of the unknown (as it was at the time).
who knows… this has been a learning curve… still curving…
Hi John, I do understand your comments but I really don’t think that the majority of places would be able to cope with the processes required, and then factor in the paying public.
If they had made everyone immerse in and no doubt breath in and swallow a small amount of biocide I believe we would have seen a much lower rate of spread. Where is the science that refutes what I am saying? People making the decisions seldom experts in any area except they studied politics at school.
Think what you like Nigel, if you knew of the constant resourcefulness of swimming pools dealing with everything from legionella threats to pseudomonas aeruginosa, Giardiasis, E-coli and Shigellosis, they are ideally equipped.
So was Trump right about drinking bleach?
YES! Trump should definitely drink bleach! 