Here's What Needs To Happen For County Pools To Reopen

ROCKVILLE, MD — As summer heats up in Montgomery County, many residents are left wondering: when will county pools and aquatic centers reopen?

Under Phase Two of the county's recovery plan — which went into effect on Friday —independently run swimming pools are allowed to reopen with capacity restrictions.

As for when county-managed pools will reopen, that's still a big question mark.

"We don't have a date specifically for our county pools yet, but we're working on it," Dr. Earl Stoddard, the county's head of emergency management, said during a COVID-19 press briefing Wednesday.

All county pools need to be inspected before they reopen to the public, according to Stoddard. The facilities also need to provide COVID-19 training to its 600 employees.

"It takes us 600 staff to come in and train, and we did not start that until we knew that we could open our pools," he said. "It's taking a little bit of time to get that done, but we will be opening our pools as soon as we're ready."

In order to reopen, indoor and outdoor pool operators must adhere to social distancing guidelines and limit the number of people who can swim at one time.

"Generally speaking, we have permitted pools to open up in the county if they follow guidance that's available on our website where you divide the square footage of the pool's base by 36 to determine how many people are safely in that space," he said.

About 40 percent of those pools, according to Stoddard, have been cleared by the county to reopen.

Pool operators can call 3-1-1 to schedule an inspection.