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  • Health: Beaches and pools, safer than rivers and pools if crowds are avoided

Still not knowing if they can go on vacation, when or where, many Spaniards place a large part of their summer hopes in swimming pools , especially those who have it in their urbanization. However, during these first days of de-escalation by the coronavirus, no indication has been established as to whether they can be opened or in what way, and that is why companies in the sector are demanding from the government a date and a common protocol that allows for timely action. and fine-tune the facilities in order to avoid contagion.

"It is of special interest that the Executive define as soon as possible a common protocol of protection and hygiene measures that these facilities must adopt against Covid 19, in addition to confirming the opening date for the season," assures the Madrid Association of Entrepreneurs of Pool Maintenance (AMEP) in a statement published this Thursday.

They consider that a roadmap is essential in the communities of owners in order to have all the necessary material and human resources available on time, since it takes at least five weeks for the set-up.

To this period, other aspects such as the hiring of lifeguards and their training should be added; the maintenance of the pools themselves, the purchase of chemical products and material resources for maintenance, Technical Service, incident management and the management of the necessary resources to develop the Covid-19 protocol at the facilities.

Only in the city of Madrid there are more than 12,000 swimming pools belonging to communities of owners and urbanizations, so from AMEP -which represents companies in the sector- they have to take into account this volume to make a decision that will Let them be ready for when they can operate.

His claim joins the one that the Property Administrators have been making in recent weeks. "It must be borne in mind that there are thousands of swimming pools throughout the country and it is necessary to go ahead and regulate how this service should be managed next summer so that, throughout the country, despite the delegations of powers, follow the same rules and criteria on openness, conditions and for how long, "says Isabel Bajo , vice president of CGCAFE and president of the College of Property Administrators of Madrid (CAF Madrid).

CAF Madrid considers it necessary for state regulation to establish measures to guarantee the distance between people, which will probably reduce the capacity of the facilities. They also remember that most homeowners' communities do not have access control, and in those cases where they have a lifeguard, it is not part of their professional work to control who and how they access the pool. Consequently, it is necessary to know that compliance with the mandatory conditions established will be the sole responsibility of each citizen, "they say.

In this sense, a report published last week by the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) indicated that it is "very unlikely" that a person could contract the new coronavirus by bathing in beaches, swimming pools and other recreational areas. The document also states that, although sand or water may not pose a specific risk of contagion, the crowding of people and the close contact that usually occur in these environments is.

The conditioning of a swimming pool includes cleaning and disinfecting the winter cover, cleaning the perimeter platform and foot baths or chemical treatments to guarantee the healthiness of the water.

In accordance with the criteria of The Trust Project

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