CAPE CORAL, Fla. — The families of 6 children were notified by city officials that their kids may have been exposed to an employee who tested positive for Coronavirus at the Cape Coral Yacht Club Community Pool. The city issued this letter to the families informing them.
We reached out to the city for questions and they replied with how parks and recreation are protecting families at this time.
“All Parks and Recreation employees who have contact with program participants have their temperature taken when they arrive for work. All program participants have their temperature taken each day as well. Masks are required by employees and participants inside any City facilities. Facilities are cleaned every day and bathrooms are sanitized each hour. The City received a grant to have professional disinfecting conducted at each facility on a weekly basis. Program participant to counselor ratios have been limited to 9 participants to one counselor and groups/counselors are separated to limit exposure. Finally, hand washing is conducted regularly and all youth participants participate in regular hand washing” said Maureen Buice, Public Information
Officer with The City of Cape Coral.
Robert Hawkes with Florida Gulf Coast University says Coronavirus cannot live in the chlorine water, However, it's still possible to contract the virus.
“So if someone were to have COVID and there are to be people in a pool, and you know swimming or doing lessons, and that person were to be in close proximity without a mask and they were coughing it is possible that they could spread COVID-19 to other people,” said Hawkes.
Hawkes tells me every parent should be asking questions regarding employee safety, before sending your kids off for summertime fun.
“Have their employers asked them questions such as, have you come in contact with COVID?, Have you been in contact with anyone else who may have been exposed to COVID? Do you have a fever? Do you have symptoms?” said Hawkes.
As cases continue to rise in younger people, the real risk is elderly people getting the virus.
“Because we want to make sure that while younger people might not have the significant symptoms of COVID, it can certainly spread it to other members of their household,” said Hawkes.
At this time we have not heard any information about those 6 kids testing positive for the Coronavirus. Hawkes also stressed the importance of parents not sending their kids to camp or public places if they are sick or showing symptoms of Coronavirus.
