Just because pools in the Region of Queens are allowed to open doesn\u2019t mean they will.<\/p>\n
Director of Recreation and Healthy Communities for the municipality, Meaghan Roberts says Friday\u2019s announcement by Dr. Robert Strang that public pools can now open doesn\u2019t change the decision to keep North Queens and Milton pools closed this summer.<\/a><\/p>\n Roberts says they\u2019re still faced with the same issues that caused them to close the pools in the first place.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have large pools in either place. So those public health restrictions still limit the number of people that can be there at once. They still have to maintain that physical distancing at all times, everywhere on the premises. For our locations, for example out in North Queens, you might be able to have, I don\u2019t know, maybe four people in the pool at once and maintain their physical distancing.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Roberts, it\u2019s not just the dimensions of the pool that prevents them from reopening; finding qualified staff is also an issue.<\/p>\n \u201cAll training for, well, everything, was cancelled so we only had one staff that have applied to either of our aquatic locations that actually had full certification. So all the rest of them had to take one or the other of their lifeguard or their water safety instructor.\u201d<\/p>\n Roberts says people may be frustrated about not having access to the pools but obviously, they couldn\u2019t open the facilities without certified staff in place.<\/p>\n She says residents understand the importance of the measures being taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and points to the recent re-opening of playgrounds as an example.<\/p>\n Roberts says municipal crews needed time to remove signs and ensure the equipment and surrounding areas were safe before allowing the kids back in.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are pretty willing to follow any rules. They\u2019re just happy to get back to normal activities.\u201d<\/p>\n Roberts draws the parallel with restaurants being permitted to reopen to 100 percent of their capacity but perhaps only being able to accommodate half that in order to follow the physical distancing guidelines set out by provincial health officials.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, it doesn\u2019t really change anything, the fact that you can re-open. It\u2019s that we still are unable to follow those rules and open to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n The province also announced lifeguards will be returning to monitor provincial beaches beginning July 1.<\/p>\n For residents of Queens accessing the nearest supervised beach means a trip to Rissers in Lunenburg County.<\/p>\n