January 14, 2021

In Minnesota we look forward to our outdoor activities but we are just as anxious to get into our clubs and dive into the warm water of an indoor pool. With the reopening of gyms in Minnesota, there were new guidelines for the pool openings as well. The biggest point we want to make is that “If a pool is located within a place of public accommodation with limited occupancy, such as a fitness center, the occupants of a pool must be counted toward the overall occupancy of the place of public accommodation”.  We addressed the Facility Capacity guidelines in an earlier post. It is the goal for those guidelines to continue to improve allowing more patrons into our facilities at any given time. At this time, MN is allowing a max of 25% capacity with a cap of 150 persons.  Always check with your local government for current guidelines!

The response we got from the NIHCA Networking group was divided on Open Swim. Open swim is harder to regulate social distancing. Where social distancing requirements are stricter, some facilities who are offering open swim are doing so by reservation only.

Here is the link to the Minnesota pool reopening dated 1/6/21, https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/poolreopen.pdf. Please be sure to check your local government pages for guidelines!

Sign postings are a great reminder to your members for guidelines of social distancing and masks. From visiting with our members, we recommend word of mouth. Talk with your members, visit with them and have a conversation. We have found more and more understanding people over the last few months. Again, we are all trying to do our best; with a smile and good attitude we can work together to come out of this stronger.