By Liz Teitz

If city pools and splash pads open this summer, swimmers could see lifeguards with masks and gloves, more frequent cleaning in locker rooms and entrance limits to maintain social distancing.

Public pools remain closed, but they are included in Gov. Ned Lamont’s second phase of reopening, tentatively set to start June 20.

“We’re not going to open the pools up until we get further into late June or July ... if we open them at all,” said Bill Dixon, New Haven’s

deputy director of parks.

“In my opinion, being in the water is the safest place to be, we just need to ensure that the rest is safe,” said Susan vonRabenstein, Orange’s aquatics supervisor. The precautions needed could be similar to those taken at gyms and sports clubs, also set for the second phase of reopening.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “there is no evidence that the virus that causes COVID-19 can be spread to people through the water in pools, hot tubs, spas, or water play areas. Proper operation and maintenance (including disinfection with chlorine and bromine) of these facilities should inactivate the virus in the water.”

But even if swimmers are relatively safe in the water, the concern is about the people gathering in parks or on the pool deck, Dixon said.

“If our lifeguards are on duty, they’ll wear masks and gloves,” he said. Locker rooms would need to be cleaned more frequently and the pool deck would need to be sprayed down, possibly hourly, he said.

While he said he doesn’t want to be a “scrooge,” and keep people from some relief on

hot summer days, “you don’t know what’s going to happen if we do open up.”

Orange’s lifeguards won’t wear masks, because they need to be able to get in the water or provide first aid immediately, vonRabenstein said. But arrangements will be made to ensure social distancing between them, and lifeguards who are assigned to monitor occupancy in locker rooms would wear masks, she said.

“We will have some sort of door system with a max of three or four in the space at any given time,” she said. “That’s an area that we now will supervise in ways we haven’t done before.”

Because Orange’s pool is inside, she doesn’t have to share Dixon’s concerns about groups of people hanging out poolside to get a tan, but provisions do need to be made to get people in and out of locker rooms and in and out of the water with minimal interaction.

She said she’s working with the town’s health director and reviewing guidance from USA Swimming to determine those procedures.

In reopening guidelines from the sport’s governing body, facilities are encouraged to “eliminate use of low ventilated spaces and rooms that prevent social distancing,” like locker rooms and dryland rooms. USA Swimming also recommends increasing water sanitation and chlorine levels, and adding “visible markers on the floor to indicate appropriate spacing” on pool decks and in entrances.

The organization also has guidelines for team training and competition, but those won’t resume in Orange until the facility is ready for the public, vonRabenstein said.

“I wouldn’t bring swim teams in if we couldn’t open to the public,” she said, because the town facility is funded by taxpayers and should be available to them first.

While residents have been understanding so far about the closure, “as soon as it gets hot, the number of calls everybody is getting is going to ramp up,” she said. “We’ve been really lucky that it’s been such a cool spring, but that’s going to happen soon. I really want to be open.”

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Dixon said. “I’ve got five pools, one beachfront, 21 different camps and events all over the city, and now a virus.”

Other municipal officials said it’s too early to even consider reopening those facilities, especially with beaches taking a higher priority ahead of Memorial Day weekend.

“It hasn’t really even come up,” said Bill Garfield, Milford’s interim director of recreation. “Right now, we’ve been told that the pools and splash pads are going to remain closed.”

“It could be a little while,” he said of the closure.

Garfield said the department hasn’t begun considering what kind of safety precautions would need to be in place to open a pool or splash pad, because it’s too early to know when that could happen.

“We’ve been so focused on our beaches and trying to keep them safe and ready for the weekend,” he said.