“There is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread to humans through the use of pools and hot tubs. Proper operation, maintenance, and disinfection (e.g., with chlorine and bromine) of pools and hot tubs should remove or inactivate the virus that causes COVID-19.”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
An enormous outbreak as Covid-19 has been running all over the world leading to thousands of deaths that are expanding every day at a geometric rate. This moment is absolutely frustrating and heartbreaking. Millions of people are at home and institutional quarantined, trying to save themselves from the awful experience in life.
Being Quarantined? Getting Bored?? According to CDCP, there is no risk if you can maintain the swimming pool at the highest possibility.
If you have a private pool, then there is no binding to swim at all with all the regular maintenance and careful steps. The most recent research result about the corona is that it can transmit through the air as it stays in the air for three hours. So, protective cautions like masks are a must for all.
How Corona Transmits
As far we got the information CoronaVirus
- Stays on air for 3 hours
- This stays in cardboard for 24 hours
- Additionally, on Plastic and stainless steels it lives for 2 to 3 days.
So far for how many hours or days, it will stay in water is not researched yet. But normally in pool water, there are so many viruses or bacteria that may damage the normal health of humans. This includes sweat, urine, even stools or other microorganisms. So, even on a normal day beyond the corona outbreak, it is recommended to clean the pool regularly with pool chlorine and pool shock.
Let’s have the idea of how many ways you can get affected by Corona
- Very close contact like touch and close touch.
- Droplets from the mouth with coughing sneezing.
- Droplets touch from any type of surface of home, office, and roads.
- Touching face, nose, eye, ears with the contaminated hands.
- It can flow through your nose or mouth or eye by airflow too.
So, if you check the ways of transmission of corona you can find that it can easily transmit to other bodies if the pool water is contaminated. So no worries till your pool is cleaned with chlorine and has the optimum chlorine level.
“Public health opinion is that it is generally safe to go swimming at this time. Water and the chlorine within swimming pools will help to kill the virus. Visitors to swimming pools are reminded to shower before using the pool, to shower on leaving the pool and to follow the necessary hygiene precautions when visiting public places to help reduce the risk of infection”
Pool Water Treatment and Advisory Group (PWTAG)
So, in every case, personal hygiene is only an option. According to WHO around 15 mg chlorine in per liter water is enough for pool chlorination. And PWTAG indicates clearly that chlorine surely kills the virus. PWTAG is a not-for-profit researcher that continuously researched different aspects related to pool water and its quality. The research result is logical and pragmatic.
So public pools may be already closed for more safety. So, it is time for the private pool to enjoy the home quarantine time. Do whatever you can beyond all things.
If you want to swim and no public pool is open and you have no pools, you can arrange an above ground pool at low cost and in reduced time. Before diving in the pool make sure the following things are maintained-
- Always check the pool chlorine level, it shouldn’t be higher or lower
- Regularly disinfect the pool with shock, chlorine, brush, vacuum, etc
- Before swimming take a bath with soap for better protection
- Your swimming costume should be germs free so always put on a clean one
- Never cough or sneeze in the pool water
- Clean the towel along with other bathing accessories and pool accessories
- Never overstock the pool in the cause of excess safety concerns. It will reverse the condition
Process of Cleaning a Pool Completely
Disinfection Process
The best and first way to keep the pool free from any germs or pathogenic microorganisms in the disinfection process. If you can clean the water with a disinfectant then the water leaves no risk to health.
As a disinfectant, you may use several products especially chlorine or bromine-based. Keep in mind that the disinfectant depends on several factors like the usage of the pool, location, types, water source, maintenance of water.
Filtration Process
Another thing is filtration. If this process goes poor then, disinfection can go wrong. Without a proper filtering process, the stubborn particles obstacle the process of chlorination.
Coagulation Process
Coagulation is another process needed to make your pool wholly virus and bacteria-free. Normally in traditional sand filters, the gap between the size of the sand pore is 70 microns, but when the filtration starts then the size decreases and this leads to filter or trap the particles of 5 to 10 microns.
Many particles are .1 to 5 microns, so the filter cannot trap those. The particles are for example cryptosporidium cysts, special matter or colloidal matter, etc. So, these are so small that they cannot pass through. In this case, a coagulant is needed too, to clear the pollution on a greater basis. When you add coagulant, it helps to bind together all the tiny particles and forms a floc of 20 to 50 microns. Then it is bigger enough to be hooked in a filter.
Replacement of water
Sometimes some designs of pools, especially public pools may demand the replacement of the whole pool water. The polluted water is replaced by freshwater and around 75 to 80% of the water should be replaced from the surface which includes more polluted water. The rest of the percentage has to be replaced from the bottom of the pool.
Bigger public pools need to replace the water as these are used by lots of people every day, so the design should be maintained in that way. The huge usage of various people makes the pool contaminated too much that it cannot be cleaned just through the process.
Final Verdict
In the current condition, it is not recommended to go to the public pools. You can enjoy swimming in your private pool with all the safety concerns. Only remember to do perfect shock or chlorinate.
