What Everyone Should Know About Swimming Safety

Three “PLEAs” for All Swimmers – Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov/crypto)

Practice these three “PLEAs” to stop germs from causing illness at the pool:

• Please don’t swim when you have diarrhea. You can spread germs in the water and make other people sick. This is especially important for kids in diapers. Anyone that has had symptoms of intestinal illness including diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps should not swim in any pool for at least two weeks after their symptoms have disappeared.
  
  
• Please don’t swallow the pool water. In fact, avoid getting water in your mouth.
  
  
• Please practice good hygiene. Take a shower before swimming and wash your hands after using the toilet or changing diapers. Germs on your body end up in the water.

Three "PLEAs" for Parents of Young Kids

Follow these three "PLEAs" to keep germs out of the pool and your community:

• Please take your kids on bathroom breaks or check diapers often. Waiting to hear "I have to go" may mean that it’s too late.
  
  
• Please change diapers in a bathroom or a diaper-changing area and not at poolside. Germs can spread to surfaces and objects in and around the pool and cause illness.
  
  
• Please wash your child thoroughly (especially the rear end) with soap and water before swimming. Everyone has invisible amounts of fecal matter on their bottoms that ends up in the pool.