ELK GROVE, Calif. — After months of closure because of the coronavirus pandemic, people will be able to enjoy the massive water slides and float the lazy river at Wackford Aquatic Complex and Elk Grove Aquatics Center.
The centers, which are allowed to reopen under Sacramento County's Public Health Order, will reopen July 3, enforcing social distancing guidelines and requiring visitors make reservations ahead of time.
"We won’t have any of our lounge chairs available so bring your own," said the centers' manager Traci Farris. "Our concession stands won’t be open this weekend so we also encourage you to bring your own food and beverage."
When it comes to how many people will be allowed into the pool area at once, the aquatic centers have dropped capacity down to 30%, which is about 750 people between the two centers.
The Wackford Complex will allow up to 300 people for a two-hour session and the aquatic center will allow 450. After the allotted two-hour session is over lifeguards on duty will ask guests to leave and will do a deep cleaning before the next group arrives.
People will need to pack a mask in their pool bags. While guests will not be required to wear a mask on the pool deck, one must be worn while in line to get inside and while in the facility.
Not everyone in Elk Grove is in a rush to take a dive into the deep end. Stacy Hart said she feels reopening the aquatic center isn’t practical in the age of COVID-19.
"You are talking about all 300 all in the same pool," Hart said. "You can’t space out, and people do stuff in the pool. So I just think we should wait."
Others like Melissa Fells, a Lodi resident, said that it is better to cool down from the heat in your own back yard than to take the risk of going to a public pool, even if public health guidelines allow.
"Just run in the sprinklers," Fells said. "Buy a splash pool do something just don’t get around a bunch of people."
Follow the conversation on Facebook with Monica Coleman.
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- Elk Grove Unified School District weighs options for upcoming schoolyear
- Elk Grove, Sacramento Cinemark theater reopenings delayed until late July
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WATCH MORE: Inside the new Elk Grove Aquatic Center