The New Rules for Your Community Pool This Summer
The rules for your community pool are going to undergo some changes this summer with the arrival of COVID-19. But that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to enjoy it with the proper safety measures and minimizing risks. We are finally entering a new normal, and we need to adapt to move forward with our lives. Why stop enjoying our pools this summer if it can be done safely?
Residential community pools are quickly adapting to comply with new regulations imposed by the government to ensure social distancing, as well as to avoid overcrowding and respect maximum occupancy limits in facilities. This aims to guarantee the well-being of users.
New rule for your community pool: booking by appointment
Among the new rules for your community pool, the key measure is compliance with maximum occupancy. Therefore, it will be necessary to establish time slots and make advance bookings to attend. This also aims to ensure that all residents have equal opportunities to use the pool, and that usage and enjoyment are distributed equitably among all neighbors.
Each homeowners’ association will have complete freedom to decide how to proceed. That is, they will be able to decide how to organize shifts, bookings, and also how entry and exit from the facilities will be managed. However, they must obligatorily and without exception respect the established maximum occupancy. Likewise, once the designated time to remain at the pool has elapsed, users will have to leave the area so that others can enjoy it too.
We will undoubtedly need to show solidarity among all neighbors so that we can all enjoy the facilities together. A small sacrifice that will be worth it as it will allow us to adapt to the new situation while staying safe and continuing to enjoy what we love.
New community pool regulations: What is the risk of infection?
The new rules for enjoying pools this summer come as a way to prevent coronavirus infection. The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) published a study last month showing that the chances of becoming infected through contact with water are very unlikely. The use of disinfectants to eliminate microbes should be more than sufficient for the inactivation of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Controlling the occupancy of community pools is a very obvious measure. It helps ensure social distancing is maintained, so the risk of infection is reduced very considerably once again. We cannot forget that at 2 meters distance, it is very unlikely that we could become infected, even in the already unlikely case of being near an infected person.
Another important aspect is the disinfection of certain surfaces at least three times a day. We are referring to commonly used elements such as handrails, stairs, and restrooms, among others.
How to comply with the new rules for your community pool?
In addition to the pool regulations that existed before the pandemic, new ones must now be followed. This has opened a debate about who should take on these responsibilities and how they should be carried out.
The disinfection tasks for common elements can be carried out either by the lifeguard themselves (some companies are already offering this) or by a person hired specifically for that purpose.
As for occupancy control and booking appointments, very interesting options are emerging, such as the mobile application developed by Colindar, which allows you to control the occupancy of facilities and manage bookings easily and efficiently. All residents can access the booking system and know the real-time occupancy, thanks to the WhatsApp notifications received from the application.
