USA-S Issues Guidelines for Reopening Swimming Facilities

Hereâ€s an article that seems to be asking a question that pertains to this discussion. www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../

A thought --- would snorkel use limit the amount of air and where we inhale it make any difference?

I would honestly expect taht, given the size of the virus, which will be HUGE compared to the molecules of CO2, N2, H2O )vapor phase), and O2 we exhale, it may actually stay in the water for a VERY long time, if not forever. I've seen 120nm, which is probably a good number. The molecules of the components in air are going to be Angstroms in size, meaning 1/1000th as large. So that stuff will rise to the surface, while the virus stays submerged. I would expect it would "stick" to the water through van der waals forces, too. Think about it, the fear of it being airborn is that it is attached to droplets. Iâ€m 104.5% sure that just got really chemically technical. Question is, do those pesky Cl- ions floating around in the H2O (liquid phase) render the virus inactive or dead in short order? for instance: hand washing beats out hand sanitizer for Coronavirus because coronaviruses have a lipid shell that protects the viral RNA. Soap does to the virus shell what it does to fats and grease on your dirty dishes: dissolves it. Poof! Virus dead in a matter of seconds! Not sure how Chlorine interacts with it though.

Very sorry for your loss. Youâ€re absolutely correct, itâ€s just a matter of time before we all are somehow impacted by this virus. Just last week I was thinking how fortunate I am to not know anybody who has been infected. Days later I learned of somebody I know who is hospitalized with it. I donâ€t take your comments as argumentative whatsoever. Iâ€m happy to listen to intelligent reasoning. Iâ€m not sure the stopping at the wall is even the worst of the potential avenues for infection. As I mentioned earlier, an infected backstroker inhaling and exhaling with water in and around their mouth has to be a perfect human disbursement apparatus for covid. This will hold true whether itâ€s a public lap swim scenario or a closed doors club swim team practice. Even with one swimmer per lane, what is to keep the virus within the confines of the infected swimmers lane perimeter?

Eggggzactly!

According to the CDC, chlorine kills the virus. But droplets from an infected individual, who may be asymptomatic, can remain suspended in the air for hours. The bigger question is why we are reopening the country without a plan for widespread testing, contact tracing, and isolation of positives. Presently only 5% of the population has been infected. Herd immunity will not occur until 70% have been. This is not the flu. My interpretation? Because we have placed the health of the economy before the health of the people. Free testing locations have opened up in our county but they are only for first responders and health care workers at this time.

Chlorine is evidently very good at inactivating the virus. The CDC says it is not spread by pools or hot tubs. Nothing is certain in this time, but being in the pool is very likely much safer than the grocery store. I don't doubt this whatsoever. They, in my estimation, are discussing the presence of COVID in the water, the water entering your mouth and you contracting the virus this way. I've no issues with this. I'm a water distribution and treatment operator so I have some understanding of water disinfection principles, but what I'm wondering about isn't something that I've dealt with before. My question has more to do with the air being breathed along the surface of the pool. Assuming a pool patron, lap swimmer or water polo athlete were sick and shedding virus as they exhaled, then what? Would other nearby persons not then inhale said virus? It's been reported that the virus can remain suspended in the air for hours. 67King made a good point about the virus that is exhaled into the water might never re-emerge. Assuming this is true, it doesn't speak to the exhalation that takes place above the water. I often get my breathing out of sync during sets and will find myself exhaling a bit as I'm rotating to take a breath. Surely I can't be the only one who does not always exhale under water.

30 million unemployed before people are talking of opening things up. Poverty is inexorably linked to the health of its citizens. I would think our leaders wouldn't close at all if they were simply worried just about the economy. Not everybody is sitting on a multiple million dollar 401k that say, an interventional cardiologist might have. Many can ride this out...others cannot. In last two weeks, I've seen a patient stay at home for 5 days with her chest pain (likely killing off extra myocardium during the covid-extended heart attack). Later, as I resuscitated a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, the 20 something gentleman's phone rang with a call from "Dad" and a screensaver with a beautiful wife and three small children. Hopelessness kills as does every disease that people are now too afraid to come to the ER to address. (Our ER census is half of what it normally is and that scenario is played out across most of the country--irony of ironies--we are laying off ER doctors during a pandemic). The ultimate promise of safety many seem to wish for (and even demand) is never gonna happen. Kurt, I donâ€t disagree about the impact of poverty. The terrible scenarios you describe at work tell the tale in a gut wrenching fashion. I just happen to think that we have had plenty of time to ramp up nationwide testing, perhaps via DPA, which would have made a measured return to normal a safer endeavor. So, now we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

That sounds logical, the size of the virus keeping it in contact with, and submerged below the surface of the water. There doesnâ€t seem to be a great deal of concern about it so perhaps itâ€s a non issue. But Iâ€d still be curious to see an experiment on the subject. Of course, for those times when a swimmer exhales above the surface, all bets are off I guess.

LOVE that the USMS Restart Guide for pools has a very well placed banner ad at the bottom for SWIM AT HOME / SWIM HALOâ„¢ I hope theyâ€re paying extra for that or that USMS is getting a portion of sales? BRILLIANT!