Summer pool rules

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That site for Ocean Dunes says “ To protect the health and safety of our employees and guests, we follow Social Distancing Standards recommended by the Center for Disease Control. These standards will be strictly enforced.” So, it would seem they WILL police the six feet rule.

I'm not sure that's true-- see last sentence of the site. "Lifeguards are focused on scanning the water, not enforcing social distancing or mask wearing. If you have a concern, please ask to speak to a manager and discuss your concerns." It seems that they are relying on guests to flag violations to the manager, rather than proactively policing.

In any event, my point in comparing Ocean Dunes to Dominion Hills is that you can require guests to maintain the required minimum distance without extreme measures like dividing the pool into pods, closing bathrooms, banning food, etc. If that was the preferred approach, then NoVA Parks would be doing it at the public pools, where they can't contract trace as easily and don't even know the people who are swimming. The risk is so much lower at a member-owned swim club where you can track who is at the pool every minute of the day by scanning member ID cards in and out. You can also ask for proof of vaccination and issue wrist bands to vaccinated members. I don't understand these member-owned private swim clubs that don't seem to trust their own membership to follow the rules and instead are throwing the book at them in the form of excessively difficult policies. Why can't you just say "These are the rules. Let the manager know if someone isn't following them." That's what the manager is getting paid to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That site for Ocean Dunes says “ To protect the health and safety of our employees and guests, we follow Social Distancing Standards recommended by the Center for Disease Control. These standards will be strictly enforced.” So, it would seem they WILL police the six feet rule.

I'm not sure that's true-- see last sentence of the site. "Lifeguards are focused on scanning the water, not enforcing social distancing or mask wearing. If you have a concern, please ask to speak to a manager and discuss your concerns." It seems that they are relying on guests to flag violations to the manager, rather than proactively policing.

In any event, my point in comparing Ocean Dunes to Dominion Hills is that you can require guests to maintain the required minimum distance without extreme measures like dividing the pool into pods, closing bathrooms, banning food, etc. If that was the preferred approach, then NoVA Parks would be doing it at the public pools, where they can't contract trace as easily and don't even know the people who are swimming. The risk is so much lower at a member-owned swim club where you can track who is at the pool every minute of the day by scanning member ID cards in and out. You can also ask for proof of vaccination and issue wrist bands to vaccinated members. I don't understand these member-owned private swim clubs that don't seem to trust their own membership to follow the rules and instead are throwing the book at them in the form of excessively difficult policies. Why can't you just say "These are the rules. Let the manager know if someone isn't following them." That's what the manager is getting paid to do.

It's CYA. DH has tons of type A members who have nothing better to do than police it. Including one disgruntled member who likes to report any perceived violation to the County. DH is probably one of the most restrictive and conservative of the pools. It's because of the members.

No one is going to try to report Upton Hills. They just want to have fun and keep it open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That site for Ocean Dunes says “ To protect the health and safety of our employees and guests, we follow Social Distancing Standards recommended by the Center for Disease Control. These standards will be strictly enforced.” So, it would seem they WILL police the six feet rule.

I'm not sure that's true-- see last sentence of the site. "Lifeguards are focused on scanning the water, not enforcing social distancing or mask wearing. If you have a concern, please ask to speak to a manager and discuss your concerns." It seems that they are relying on guests to flag violations to the manager, rather than proactively policing.

In any event, my point in comparing Ocean Dunes to Dominion Hills is that you can require guests to maintain the required minimum distance without extreme measures like dividing the pool into pods, closing bathrooms, banning food, etc. If that was the preferred approach, then NoVA Parks would be doing it at the public pools, where they can't contract trace as easily and don't even know the people who are swimming. The risk is so much lower at a member-owned swim club where you can track who is at the pool every minute of the day by scanning member ID cards in and out. You can also ask for proof of vaccination and issue wrist bands to vaccinated members. I don't understand these member-owned private swim clubs that don't seem to trust their own membership to follow the rules and instead are throwing the book at them in the form of excessively difficult policies. Why can't you just say "These are the rules. Let the manager know if someone isn't following them." That's what the manager is getting paid to do.

It's CYA. DH has tons of type A members who have nothing better to do than police it. Including one disgruntled member who likes to report any perceived violation to the County. DH is probably one of the most restrictive and conservative of the pools. It's because of the members.

No one is going to try to report Upton Hills. They just want to have fun and keep it open.

+1. The DH Board knows and agrees that the governor's regulations are stupid. They also know that they have members who have clearly indicated they won't even try to comply or make their kids comply with the distancing mandate, which makes guidance to self-police meaningless. They also know there is one a-hole who has contacted the state in the past to try and get the pool in trouble. They can't win. I wish my friends and neighbors would realize that their fellow pool members on the board will change this once the governor changes the regulations. They are focused on their job as directors of the nonprofit entity, which in part is about managing risk. None of them are happy with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our pool in MoCo opened at the weekend with the same rules as at the end of last summer

Max capacity of 75 people, online reservations, masks unless swimming, snack bar closed.

So dumb,

Ours isn't open yet but says the rules will be the same as well and similar to yours. I think they are pandering to the most extreme cautious families, last year they let these families defer membership for a minimal fee but not this year so they're trying to get them to stay I guess. Plus I don't think all the board members really trust that MoCo will actually defer to the state, the county just can't help themselves sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That site for Ocean Dunes says “ To protect the health and safety of our employees and guests, we follow Social Distancing Standards recommended by the Center for Disease Control. These standards will be strictly enforced.” So, it would seem they WILL police the six feet rule.

I'm not sure that's true-- see last sentence of the site. "Lifeguards are focused on scanning the water, not enforcing social distancing or mask wearing. If you have a concern, please ask to speak to a manager and discuss your concerns." It seems that they are relying on guests to flag violations to the manager, rather than proactively policing.

In any event, my point in comparing Ocean Dunes to Dominion Hills is that you can require guests to maintain the required minimum distance without extreme measures like dividing the pool into pods, closing bathrooms, banning food, etc. If that was the preferred approach, then NoVA Parks would be doing it at the public pools, where they can't contract trace as easily and don't even know the people who are swimming. The risk is so much lower at a member-owned swim club where you can track who is at the pool every minute of the day by scanning member ID cards in and out. You can also ask for proof of vaccination and issue wrist bands to vaccinated members. I don't understand these member-owned private swim clubs that don't seem to trust their own membership to follow the rules and instead are throwing the book at them in the form of excessively difficult policies. Why can't you just say "These are the rules. Let the manager know if someone isn't following them." That's what the manager is getting paid to do.

It's CYA. DH has tons of type A members who have nothing better to do than police it. Including one disgruntled member who likes to report any perceived violation to the County. DH is probably one of the most restrictive and conservative of the pools. It's because of the members.

No one is going to try to report Upton Hills. They just want to have fun and keep it open.

+1. The DH Board knows and agrees that the governor's regulations are stupid. They also know that they have members who have clearly indicated they won't even try to comply or make their kids comply with the distancing mandate, which makes guidance to self-police meaningless. They also know there is one a-hole who has contacted the state in the past to try and get the pool in trouble. They can't win. I wish my friends and neighbors would realize that their fellow pool members on the board will change this once the governor changes the regulations. They are focused on their job as directors of the nonprofit entity, which in part is about managing risk. None of them are happy with this.

If a private club has members who are clearly saying they won't adhere to the club rules, then why wouldn't you just kick them out of the club? It is odd to put extreme measures in place for your entire membership to manage a handful of rogue actors. No wonder your members are so upset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our pool in MoCo opened at the weekend with the same rules as at the end of last summer

Max capacity of 75 people, online reservations, masks unless swimming, snack bar closed.

So dumb,

Ours isn't open yet but says the rules will be the same as well and similar to yours. I think they are pandering to the most extreme cautious families, last year they let these families defer membership for a minimal fee but not this year so they're trying to get them to stay I guess. Plus I don't think all the board members really trust that MoCo will actually defer to the state, the county just can't help themselves sometimes.

I am the person you replied to.

I agree they are pandering to the most cautious, but our pool has a huge waiting list, so I am not totally sure why. Perhaps some of those cautious families are on the board or are friends of board members.

Our pool also a seniors only hour every weekday again this year even though all seniors are most likely vaccinated, and we have all the capacity, masks, and distance restrictions for open swim anyway. Again, I assume there are some influential seniors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1. The DH Board knows and agrees that the governor's regulations are stupid. They also know that they have members who have clearly indicated they won't even try to comply or make their kids comply with the distancing mandate, which makes guidance to self-police meaningless. They also know there is one a-hole who has contacted the state in the past to try and get the pool in trouble. They can't win. I wish my friends and neighbors would realize that their fellow pool members on the board will change this once the governor changes the regulations. They are focused on their job as directors of the nonprofit entity, which in part is about managing risk. None of them are happy with this.

If a private club has members who are clearly saying they won't adhere to the club rules, then why wouldn't you just kick them out of the club? It is odd to put extreme measures in place for your entire membership to manage a handful of rogue actors. No wonder your members are so upset.

To put this in context, DH is counts as members both McCrazy who is famous on the APS forum and the guy who started the entire alcohol kerfluffle in Northern Virginia two or three years ago. This board is dealing with all kinds of crazy as it balances member desires with risk mitigation and compliance.

On the plus side, with the governor's announcement today there's light at the end of the tunnel for everyone. With luck he'll lift the pool restrictions even sooner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1. The DH Board knows and agrees that the governor's regulations are stupid. They also know that they have members who have clearly indicated they won't even try to comply or make their kids comply with the distancing mandate, which makes guidance to self-police meaningless. They also know there is one a-hole who has contacted the state in the past to try and get the pool in trouble. They can't win. I wish my friends and neighbors would realize that their fellow pool members on the board will change this once the governor changes the regulations. They are focused on their job as directors of the nonprofit entity, which in part is about managing risk. None of them are happy with this.

If a private club has members who are clearly saying they won't adhere to the club rules, then why wouldn't you just kick them out of the club? It is odd to put extreme measures in place for your entire membership to manage a handful of rogue actors. No wonder your members are so upset.

To put this in context, DH is counts as members both McCrazy who is famous on the APS forum and the guy who started the entire alcohol kerfluffle in Northern Virginia two or three years ago. This board is dealing with all kinds of crazy as it balances member desires with risk mitigation and compliance.

On the plus side, with the governor's announcement today there's light at the end of the tunnel for everyone. With luck he'll lift the pool restrictions even sooner.

100% this. Plus it's a member owned pool so kicking someone out is not easy. If it were the a-hole member would have been kicked out a LONG time ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1. The DH Board knows and agrees that the governor's regulations are stupid. They also know that they have members who have clearly indicated they won't even try to comply or make their kids comply with the distancing mandate, which makes guidance to self-police meaningless. They also know there is one a-hole who has contacted the state in the past to try and get the pool in trouble. They can't win. I wish my friends and neighbors would realize that their fellow pool members on the board will change this once the governor changes the regulations. They are focused on their job as directors of the nonprofit entity, which in part is about managing risk. None of them are happy with this.

If a private club has members who are clearly saying they won't adhere to the club rules, then why wouldn't you just kick them out of the club? It is odd to put extreme measures in place for your entire membership to manage a handful of rogue actors. No wonder your members are so upset.

To put this in context, DH is counts as members both McCrazy who is famous on the APS forum and the guy who started the entire alcohol kerfluffle in Northern Virginia two or three years ago. This board is dealing with all kinds of crazy as it balances member desires with risk mitigation and compliance.

On the plus side, with the governor's announcement today there's light at the end of the tunnel for everyone. With luck he'll lift the pool restrictions even sooner.

But how does the Governor's announcement change things? He's not going to drop the distance requirements entirely-- more likely just reduce the 10 ft rule. If the premise behind dividing pools into sections is that you can't trust your own members to follow distancing rules, then going from 10 ft to 6 ft or even 3 ft wouldn't change that argument. You either trust your members to follow your pool policies, or you don't. And if you don't trust your own members, then your pool has bigger problems.

And yes, you can kick families out for not following the rules. I guarantee every private pool has that right in their policies. You aren't kicking people out for being jerks. You are kicking people out for not following the rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the plus side, with the governor's announcement today there's light at the end of the tunnel for everyone. With luck he'll lift the pool restrictions even sooner.

But how does the Governor's announcement change things? He's not going to drop the distance requirements entirely-- more likely just reduce the 10 ft rule. If the premise behind dividing pools into sections is that you can't trust your own members to follow distancing rules, then going from 10 ft to 6 ft or even 3 ft wouldn't change that argument. You either trust your members to follow your pool policies, or you don't. And if you don't trust your own members, then your pool has bigger problems.

And yes, you can kick families out for not following the rules. I guarantee every private pool has that right in their policies. You aren't kicking people out for being jerks. You are kicking people out for not following the rules.


He said he will lift all Covid related restrictions by June 15th. This particular board may decide to stick with full compliance for the next few weeks, or they may not, but they will certainly change things as soon as they can. Guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the plus side, with the governor's announcement today there's light at the end of the tunnel for everyone. With luck he'll lift the pool restrictions even sooner.

But how does the Governor's announcement change things? He's not going to drop the distance requirements entirely-- more likely just reduce the 10 ft rule. If the premise behind dividing pools into sections is that you can't trust your own members to follow distancing rules, then going from 10 ft to 6 ft or even 3 ft wouldn't change that argument. You either trust your members to follow your pool policies, or you don't. And if you don't trust your own members, then your pool has bigger problems.

And yes, you can kick families out for not following the rules. I guarantee every private pool has that right in their policies. You aren't kicking people out for being jerks. You are kicking people out for not following the rules.

He said he will lift all Covid related restrictions by June 15th. This particular board may decide to stick with full compliance for the next few weeks, or they may not, but they will certainly change things as soon as they can. Guaranteed.

If Virginia's COVID-19 numbers keeps trending down and vaccination numbers keep trending up, Governor Ralph Northam says mitigation measures, capacity restrictions and social distancing requirements could be lifted by June 15.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fox5dc.com/news/virginia-plans-to-lift-covid-19-capacity-restrictions-social-distancing-requirements-on-june-15.amp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1. The DH Board knows and agrees that the governor's regulations are stupid. They also know that they have members who have clearly indicated they won't even try to comply or make their kids comply with the distancing mandate, which makes guidance to self-police meaningless. They also know there is one a-hole who has contacted the state in the past to try and get the pool in trouble. They can't win. I wish my friends and neighbors would realize that their fellow pool members on the board will change this once the governor changes the regulations. They are focused on their job as directors of the nonprofit entity, which in part is about managing risk. None of them are happy with this.

If a private club has members who are clearly saying they won't adhere to the club rules, then why wouldn't you just kick them out of the club? It is odd to put extreme measures in place for your entire membership to manage a handful of rogue actors. No wonder your members are so upset.

To put this in context, DH is counts as members both McCrazy who is famous on the APS forum and the guy who started the entire alcohol kerfluffle in Northern Virginia two or three years ago. This board is dealing with all kinds of crazy as it balances member desires with risk mitigation and compliance.



On the plus side, with the governor's announcement today there's light at the end of the tunnel for everyone. With luck he'll lift the pool restrictions even sooner.

I'm familiar with McCrazy, but not the alcohol kerfluffle- please tell me more about that.

and on the subject of why does a board cater to its most conservative members? We don't really do this, but i can see the temptation- its members who threaten to report you to the health dept for non-compliance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On the plus side, with the governor's announcement today there's light at the end of the tunnel for everyone. With luck he'll lift the pool restrictions even sooner.

But how does the Governor's announcement change things? He's not going to drop the distance requirements entirely-- more likely just reduce the 10 ft rule. If the premise behind dividing pools into sections is that you can't trust your own members to follow distancing rules, then going from 10 ft to 6 ft or even 3 ft wouldn't change that argument. You either trust your members to follow your pool policies, or you don't. And if you don't trust your own members, then your pool has bigger problems.

And yes, you can kick families out for not following the rules. I guarantee every private pool has that right in their policies. You aren't kicking people out for being jerks. You are kicking people out for not following the rules.

He said he will lift all Covid related restrictions by June 15th. This particular board may decide to stick with full compliance for the next few weeks, or they may not, but they will certainly change things as soon as they can. Guaranteed.

I guess I am a little skeptical that's going to be the outcome, given that it would put Northam out of sync with the CDC. Have you looked at the CDC summer camp guidance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1. The DH Board knows and agrees that the governor's regulations are stupid. They also know that they have members who have clearly indicated they won't even try to comply or make their kids comply with the distancing mandate, which makes guidance to self-police meaningless. They also know there is one a-hole who has contacted the state in the past to try and get the pool in trouble. They can't win. I wish my friends and neighbors would realize that their fellow pool members on the board will change this once the governor changes the regulations. They are focused on their job as directors of the nonprofit entity, which in part is about managing risk. None of them are happy with this.

If a private club has members who are clearly saying they won't adhere to the club rules, then why wouldn't you just kick them out of the club? It is odd to put extreme measures in place for your entire membership to manage a handful of rogue actors. No wonder your members are so upset.

To put this in context, DH is counts as members both McCrazy who is famous on the APS forum and the guy who started the entire alcohol kerfluffle in Northern Virginia two or three years ago. This board is dealing with all kinds of crazy as it balances member desires with risk mitigation and compliance.



On the plus side, with the governor's announcement today there's light at the end of the tunnel for everyone. With luck he'll lift the pool restrictions even sooner.

I'm familiar with McCrazy, but not the alcohol kerfluffle- please tell me more about that.

and on the subject of why does a board cater to its most conservative members? We don't really do this, but i can see the temptation- its members who threaten to report you to the health dept for non-compliance.

If someone called a county health department to complain that members weren't adhering to the 10 ft rule, there is no way the health department is coming to investigate. If you are talking about Arlington County, the county officials there said early on in the pandemic that the county was not going to expend resources to enforce social distancing. Remember that fuss about The Lot last summer? The County Board said that it was up to patrons to self-police, which is what enflamed the Open Schools crowd-- because, wherever you fall on school reopening, it is a true statement to say that the County has turned a blind eye toward social distancing EXCEPT in the case of schools. No way will the health department show up to investigate a private swim club simply because someone calls to say that people aren't standing 10 ft apart in the pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If someone called a county health department to complain that members weren't adhering to the 10 ft rule, there is no way the health department is coming to investigate. If you are talking about Arlington County, the county officials there said early on in the pandemic that the county was not going to expend resources to enforce social distancing. Remember that fuss about The Lot last summer? The County Board said that it was up to patrons to self-police, which is what enflamed the Open Schools crowd-- because, wherever you fall on school reopening, it is a true statement to say that the County has turned a blind eye toward social distancing EXCEPT in the case of schools. No way will the health department show up to investigate a private swim club simply because someone calls to say that people aren't standing 10 ft apart in the pool.

But if you're the board or the manager, do you want to deal with the nonsense if you know you have members who are likely to cause trouble? Again, with regard to the pool we're discussing, the board knows this is a ridiculous regulation but also has to balance risk and their membership.