Monday, August 10th, 2020
Just as I have figured out the system and managed to get it to work for me so that I can access a pool and book a lane seven days a week across three different pools, my main pool, on which I had been relying heavily for winter swimming season has made changes to its policy. As of Monday next week an individual can book no more than three events. This means half of my swimming time is gone! I understand the rational, to provide more people with access.
Given I regularly go on a rant when people decided to use the full two hour slot at the public pools to hog a lane, I should be very quiet. Afterall my main complaint is about the selfishness and the lack of communal consideration. If a pool has three lap lanes and there are 8 people wanting to use them, everyone needs to show a little consideration and swim less minutes than ideally they would like. I guess the same applies to booking systems, but it is a major disappointment, especially with our outdoor options like lakes falling away as of mid-September or so. There may be a way to get to 5-6 swims as individual lap bookings are not considered the same as family swim bookings. Since EM and I are a family and can share a lane there is the theoretical option to book three individual and three joint events and given she - unlike me - does not swim everyday, she could just share her three swims a week with me.
So far we have gone to the club only Monday-Friday and t public outdoor pools on weekends. With the colder time of the year approaching this mix is not feasible. Sadly, the county has only three public indoor pools, one of these one has to basically book at midnight, i.e. the second the booking system opens. The other two are a bit further away, but maybe feasible on weekends. It is not like we have anything else to do, so I may as well spend an hour in the car to get a one hour swim. T
he fact that publicly accessible school and university pools remain closed, does not help as it in creases the pressure on the few pools which are open. With current infection rates continuing to spike, there is no end in sight.
Globally 19.9million have been counted and in the USA we have reached 5.2 million; although numbers are less and less reliable and will vary greatly depending on the source. This is due to the changes in data reporting systems and how alternative sources aggregate data. Even though in the DMV rate are stable, and in some counties on the decline.
Maybe if we reach phase 3 reopening, pools will open again more widely.