Diving Back In! How to Safely Reopen the Common Area Facilities
With Memorial Day quickly approaching, community boards and managers are feeling the pressure to reopen pool amenities as soon as possible. This begs the question, “how do we reopen the pool?”
Outdoor swimming pools in California are allowed to be open and indoor swimming pools may reopen for any County that is in the Orange Tier or better. The following is a summary of pool guidance as of May 12, 2021:
Orange Tier (including, but not limited to Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Ventura): Outdoor and indoor residential pools may be open for “regular use”. Indoor spas/hot tubs/saunas/steam rooms must remain closed unless or until the County moves into the Yellow Tier.
NOTE: Per Ventura County Environmental Health, all guidance for community association pools has been lifted and CDC guidance is recommended, but not required.
Yellow Tier (Los Angeles): The major change when moving into the Yellow Tier is that indoor hot tubs, saunas and steam rooms may also reopen.
Although facilitates may reopen, we continue to recommend that residents sign waivers prior to use of the swimming pool or other common area facilities. Moreover, facial coverings and social distancing should continue to be required while moving through common areas as required at both the State and County levels. Although recommendations continue to change for vaccinated individuals, we do not recommend that the board or management engage in vaccine enforcement, as it is subject to challenge and exposure to liability.
Finally, as many counties prepare to move into the Yellow Tier, the following changes can be expected, unless the county adopts more restrictive guidance:
“Conferences” or Private Events (which could include an association-sponsored event in the common area):
Outdoor attendance with a maximum of 200 people (400 if all are vaccinated or show proof of negative test, which we do not recommend associations become involved with checking).
Informal gatherings:
- Outdoors - maximum capacity of 100 people,
- Indoors (strongly discouraged) - max capacity of 50% or 50
people, whichever is less.
Fitness Centers:
Capacity still 50% at this time.
If the board proceeds with reopening the pool and other common area facilities, we recommend developing a plan, consulting with legal counsel and posting notices throughout the facility containing the rules of operation for the facility.