Pool owners excited to reopen, ready to practice safety measures with swimmers

Cary Park Swim Club is among those reopening Saturday.

“We’re also very nervous, there’s a lot of procedures we need to implement and we need to count on our members to be responsible,” said Michelle Lombana of Cary Park Swim Club.

Even with the announcement, Derek Wall, president and owner of Triangle Aquatics, LLC, said the pools they manage will only be open and operate at about 10% this weekend.

Restaurants, salons, pools can reopen this weekend, but gyms, bars cannot

“There’s so much in place, if pool owners weren’t already planning for reopening, it would be difficult to pull it al together last minute,” Wall said.

For those heading to the pool, your experience may look and feel a little different this year. At Cary Park Swim Club, pool furniture has been set six feet apart, they’re encouraging frequent hand washing, and facial covering when outside of the water.

The club is also keeping track at the entrance, limiting the area to 100 visitors. Guest can chose to wait outside until they can come in.

“The capacity of our lap pool is 30 people at a time and that pool, it's 17 people at a time, and we need people to be responsible and respect that,” Lombana said.

At Seven Oaks Pool in Raleigh, management is also following very strict rules, including reserved time slots to manage capacity, multiple 30-minute sanitation rounds, limited tables and designated areas for different pool activities.

Many pools will also be closing their water slides to avoid the risk of infection. Pool owners also recommended children use their own water toys and avoid sharing with others.

Many of the pool owners said their main goal was to get to the end of summer without anyone getting infected with COVID-19. To accomplish this, they need to make sure everyone is following these rules and taking them seriously.