VIDEO: Slow return to H2O

| August 12, 2020 in Video

Local Community Advertising

There's plenty of room in the pool. This week, the swimming pool re-opened at Kelowna's YMCA operated H2O Adventure and Fitness Centre, and the public is coming back...slowly.

Manager Jared Hidber said things have been going well since Monday's pool opening.

"So that's really exciting so it's just about getting the word out there and we're open, we want people to come in."

The fitness centre opened July 29.

Look inside and you can see the numbers of people are nothing like what you might have seen prior to the pandemic, so there's a lot of space. But Hidber believes it will build over time.

"Maybe people are still kind of figuring it out," he suggested. "The same thing happened with fitness, we had a slower start and then it got a little bit busier."

It's hardly an issue at this point, but once the crowds start to build, there are new capacity limits in place to ensure there is room for people to maintain physical distancing. 

Things will look a little bit different than before. There is a lot of signage and sanitization and more staff on hand for frequent cleaning.

"You can't just drop-in anymore. So there's a lot of different protocols in place," explained Hidber.

Bev Kinds was in the fitness centre today and said she feels comfortable inside. "They're really looking after things well," she said. "They're cleaning it constantly."

"In our view, this is the best way that we could open and make it the safest for the public," said Hidber. 

The facility is open from 5:30 am until 9 pm on weekdays and 9 am to 5 pm weekends. 

Local Community Advertising

Trending Stories

UPDATE: Missing 29-year-old woman found, BC RCMP say

Spring jolt for Kelowna real estate sales and prices

Your Voice: Why hasn't BC looked at mobile home parks to solve the housing crisis?

BC man wants homes for thousands of books he soon won't be able to read

Police investigating trio of shootings in Kamloops

Police arrest girls, ages 13 and 14, in Manitoba homicide

Tom Dyas: We need to come to terms with the fact that Kelowna can't solve homelessness alone

Kelowna London Drugs the first BC Interior location to reopen as stores slowly return to normalcy