Well, we only got to swim about 700 meters tonight before we got kicked out of the pool. Lightning? Noooo..... While we were swimming they were teaching lessons on one side of the pool. Apparently some kid threw up into the pool. They made everyone get out. The manager said that any time they have "liquid fecal matter or vomit" they have to super-chlorinate the pool.
It reminded me of a time a few years ago when I went to a local Y for their annual 100 100s on 100 seconds. We were going to start at 9:00pm on a Friday night. At about 8:30pm, a kid threw up in the pool. The Y people were trying to tell us that we might not be able to swim. One of the Masters swimmers, a doctor, kept saying, "But vomit is sterile!"
I tried to use that argument tonight but it didn't work...
What is the policy at your pool?
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Former Member
How about those manly men who insist on making a those wretched hoch-ing noises...right before they spew a mouthful of slime into the gutter.
That is just sooo vile.
I rarely see that anymore since I am primarily swimming with 18 and unders these days but when I swam at the city rec center before...oh baby, look out scout. There were times that hearing that sound next to me would nearly drive me out of the pool, and I love to swim.
The exact same thing happened at our YMCA pool on Tuesday. The pool was closed for 8 hours to completely circulate the entire volume. What can you do?:dunno:
My summer club pool (non-Y) has ALWAYS had a policy of "not potty-trained = no main pool." Now I've never worked there, but to my knowledge, they've never had an incident while I was there. Baby pool, however, that thing gets shut down all the time.
My first lifeguarding job was at a community pool, and they allowed swim diaper pants and a swimsuit to cover the diaper for either pool. I always made sure parents knew the rules and would check routinely any time I saw a diapered kid. Parents were for the most part pretty understanding, especially when I explained to them how we'd been closed a full Sunday once when we had some midnight visitors.
I may or may not have told someone once we'd have to drain the pool and refill. :rofl:
Ours rope off the lane where the goodies are lurking and vac it up, ...at least in the case of a puke. With a "Baby Ruth Floater" I don't know what they do.
Our Y rules are the same as yours, Anna Lea. Many summers have 1-day shut-downs, usually because kids are in the pool too soon after eating and just get too excited. This summer it's better because we have a new aquatic manager with some experience in training camp councilors.
They say there's more nasty stuff living in outdoor pools than indoors...coming from things like bird poop...and dead frogs.
But to answer your question...most pools are required to shut down from barf mishaps. Ours does.
From the Centers For Disease Control...
Vomit in Pool Water
Q: What germs are likely to be spread by vomit?
A: Noroviruses (also known as Norwalk-like viruses)
Q: Assuming that norovirus is in the vomit, what should I do?
A: Respond to the vomit accident as you would respond to a formed fecal accident, using CDC's recommendations.
Noroviruses sound pretty nasty...
www.noroblog.com/.../
Our "Y" shuts down if they hear thunder - and of course vomit and even blood, just a small amount of blood.
So it's really not worth going on Fridays after day care swims, you never know if your going to walk in and have to go home. And of course I always forget to bring my tennie shoes go I can just go and lift weights instead.
Most of the problems are only during the summer months - so far so good this year. - Oh,no with that being said- today is day care swim day - some kid gonna get sick today -LOL
From what I've observeed, little kids usually throw up because they're crying so hard, not because they're sick. Where my daughter takes lessons(a university pool) the guards scoop out the vomit and lessons go on without interruption. It's worked great for years.
This summer, unfortuntately, the filter system got knocked out over a weekend and the kids were swimming in what looked and smelled like pond water - we parents were assured it was adequately chlorinated. A week later, the pool was closed because over 60 kids got sick - giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis and norovirus. Connected to the filter issue? I don't know. Fortunately for us, neither my daughter nor I got sick - but the little kids who still swallow a mouthful here and there...
