OLDS — The Aquatic Centre has been operating well under the latest COVID-19 protocols but as of March 8, things were still not fully back to normal.
During a town council meeting this month, community services director Doug Wagstaff said many restrictions still remained in place after the facility re-opened at the beginning of March.
Wagstaff said the pool is open six days of the week with one-to-one instruction.
“Family households are able to rent space and we are looking at how we can re-introduce the Red Cross lessons, the one-to-one instruction,” Wagstaff said.
“It’s limited," he said noting the hot tub wasn’t yet available.
Also, Wagstaff said high intensity activities still weren’t allowed.
“So unfortunately at this point in time, even aqua-fit and aqua-size classes are considered high intensity,” he said.
Wagstaff said as of March 8, the pool can have up to 10 people at a time in there at any given time but they must still be physically distanced.
As a result, the number of lanes available was restricted and only one person per lane was allowed.
The Olds Rapid Swim Club has expressed a desire to start up in the pool “so we’ll be adjusting to accommodate the local swim club in getting its U18 back into sport activity under the regulations," he said.
Wagstaff stressed however, that as of March 8, access to the Aquatic Centre remained by appointment only.
“You must still must make appointments scheduled ahead of time. Drop-ins are not allowed. You must schedule your swim time,” he said.
People can book their appointments by phoning the Aquatic Centre directly or by booking online, he said.
Chief administrative officer Michael Merritt said the re-opening of the Aquatic Centre has gone pretty well so far.
“There’s been a lot of positive comments from those who have been able to do something different in this pandemic again,” he said.
