Public pools keep anti-Covid measures due to ‘change of habits’

Sports Bureau (ID) public swimming pools will retain some Covid-19 pandemic measures, such as having three sessions daily separated by one-hour breaks, the ID has confirmed in a written reply to a Times’ inquiry.

The bureau justified the decision by alleging users are used to the new system.

“The Sports Bureau has adjusted the opening hours and session arrangements based on the original opening mode since July 24, 2020. Now, the pools are divided into up to three sessions per day, allowing citizens to have more time slots for swimming activities to choose from. As the above-mentioned measures have been in place for a period of time, and taking into account factors such as the current usage habits of citizens and management measures of swimming pools, the present opening mode is maintained at this stage,” the ID said.

In the past, public swimming pools had two sessions daily with a single break around lunchtime. During the break, staff performed cleaning and maintenance tasks and users could stay inside the venues provided they stayed away from the water.

With the enforcement of the three time slots and the deep cleaning and disinfection tasks, justified at the time as Covid-19 prevention measures, the ID also forced users to leave venues at the end of each time slot, irrespective of their arrival time. To use the venue after the break, users needed a new ticket.

The system, enforced in the summer of 2020, is still causing much confusion and even conflict between users and swimming pool staff, the Times observed. Some swimmers are forced to leave the venue minutes after entering, being unaware of the one-hour breaktime system (twice a day) that forces them from the venue.

The ID also justified continuing the system “to provide more opportunities for the public to use the swimming pool facilities.”

Under this system, the Estoril swimming pool reopened last Saturday, with the remaining pools reopening on May 1.