Swimming Holes Fill the Void as Virus Closes Pools

(Bloomberg) -- Editor’s Note: Covid-19 has fundamentally changed how we live and work — in ways big and small. “Redefining Normal” captures how that transformation is playing out across North America, from its metropolises to its rural hamlets and all the towns in between.

On a hot Wednesday in June, just around the corner from a shuttered public pool, Lake Audubon was a vision of tranquility.

Throughout my childhood in Reston, Virginia, I’d never seen more than a swimmer or two, but now the lake was peppered with them. One family pulled fishing poles out of the back of a truck as a golden retriever jumped out, another inflated a plastic raft on the pavement, and a kayak sat unmanned on a trail leading into the woods.

A summer without pools is a grim prospect that’s looking less likely as many states begin to move into stage 2 of reopening the economy after weeks of lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19. But capacity limits and hygiene concerns will make it hard for pools to return to their former glory, and at least in Reston, a makeshift swimming hole has filled the void.

Lindsey Rook, 22, stood at the lake’s edge dipping her feet in the water. Her plan to spend the summer working in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as a housekeeper fizzled because she was concerned about the infection risk of entering strangers’ rooms. Instead, she’s staying in Reston, where she grew up and is glad to have a few extra months to spend with her childhood friends.

“I’ve never seen people dive,” Rook said, pointing to the handful of brave children jumping off the spillway grate. “The pools are closed. It’s the only option at the moment.”

On a bench in the grass, Tricia Fischer sat and watched her twin 18-year-old daughters bob on new paddleboards in the center of the lake. The girls were slated to graduate high school the following day at 10:32 and 10:35 AM. An afternoon in the sun was a nice way to take their minds off the strangeness of a socially distant ceremony, and the disheartening thought that there wouldn’t be a do-over.

“Stuff like this helps,” Fischer said. “It makes us feel good again.”

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