Dear City Council Members, I am writing to encourage you to open up the public pool(s) so that the wonderful community of kids, teens and adults can have safe and healthy access again. I am very cautious and am very supportive of the pandemic related orders issued by our local and state governments. I have been proud of our elected officials’ response during this pandemic. I have confidence you will continue to earn my respect. I am an avid lap/masters swimmer myself, and the mother of four children who attended schools in Menlo Park and Atherton (Las Lomitas, La Entrada and MA). I am a concerned community member anxious to get all the kids, teens, and adults who utilize our great public pools--who are not able to access high priced country clubs and depend on our wonderful public institutions--back into their healthy activities safely. I am aware that pools are reopening in our community so there is now experience on which Menlo Park can base its decision regarding the Menlo Park public pools. This I urge you to allow for the reopening of the Menlo Park public pools Including Burgess Pool, which I know is well prepared to enable lap swimming safely, and to take all the outlined precautions of San Mateo County Health Order No. c19-5d -- Appendix C-2, issued May 15, 2020, which states: "The “Additional Activities” listed below may resume, subject to the requirements set forth in the Order and to any additional requirements set forth below or in separate guidance by the Health Officer. These activities were selected to implement an initial measured expansion of activity based on health-related considerations including the risks of COVID-19 transmission associated with types and modes of activity, the ability to substantially mitigate transmission risks associated with the operations, and related factors, such as the following: Increase in mobility and volume of activity—the overall impact resumption of the activity will have on the number of people leaving their homes and interacting with others in the community; Contact intensity—the type (close or distant) and duration (brief or prolonged) of the contact involved in the activity; Number of contacts—the approximate number of people that will be in the setting at the same time; Modification potential—the degree to which mitigation measures can decrease the risk of transmission. List of Additional Activities Notwithstanding Section 15.a regarding outdoor recreation areas and shared recreation facilities, for the purposes of this Order Additional Activities include the following: (1) Indoor and outdoor pools, outdoor recreation areas, and outdoor shared recreation facilities may be opened, but only if they are actively monitored and managed to ensure that the facility is either (1) only used by members of the same household or (2) used in a manner that ensures that all social distancing, face covering and all other requirements (including the prohibitions against gathering and shared equipment), including Health Officer orders, are enforced. Any measures put in place must be reflected in the required posted written protocols. a. Basis for Addition. Indoor and outdoor pools, outdoor recreation areas, and outdoor shared recreation facilities that are actively managed and monitored in a manner that ensures that the social distancing, face covering and all other requirements (including the prohibitions against gathering and shared equipment), including Health Officer orders, are enforced, the likelihood of transmission is significantly reduced.” We are working together as a larger community to keep everyone healthy and safe. I believe that this can be done - and should be done - so that all of our community continues to be safe and practice the recommended social distancing. I am concerned that if the Menlo Park public pools are not reopened now people will begin to find other ways to exercise which may not be as safe as the public pools opened per the county order quoted above. We need to make life manageable while safe. Thank you for considering my comments. Please stay and healthy. Katy Basile 650.387.5933 (mobile) Received on Tue May 26 2020 - 14:39:15 PDT
