Healthy and Safe Swimming Week 2023: Got Diarrhea? Don’t Swim!
Swimming is a fun, healthy way to stay physically active and spend quality time with family and friends. Healthy and Safe Swimming Week highlights the roles that swimmers, caregivers, aquatics and beach staff, residential pool owners, and public health officials play in preventing disease outbreaks, drowning, and pool chemical injuries.
You can get sick with diarrhea if you swallow contaminated water in pools, hot tubs, splash pads, oceans, lakes, or rivers. In fact, diarrhea is the most common illness reported for outbreaks linked to water in these places. To learn more Please visit the CDC's Diarrhea and Swimming webpage.
HOW TO PREVENT DROWNING
The Facts:
- More children ages 1–4 die from drowning than any other cause.
- Drowning happens in seconds and is often silent.
- Drowning can happen to anyone, any time there is access to water.
You can prevent drowning by:
- Learn basic swimming and water safety skills
- Build fences that fully enclose pools
- Supervise closely
- Wear a life jacket
- Learn CPR
- Know the risks of natural waters
- Avoid alcohol
- Use the buddy system
- Take additional precautions for medical conditions
- Consider the effects of medications
- Don’t hyperventilate or hold your breath for a long time
To learn more, please visit the CDC's Drowning Prevention website.
POOL CHEMICAL SAFETY
Pool chemicals, such as chlorine and bromine, are added to treated venues (for example, pools, hot tubs/spas, and water playgrounds) to protect swimmers from the spread of germs and prevent outbreaks. Other pool chemicals help with the disinfection process (for example, pH control), improve water quality, stop corrosion and scaling of equipment, and protect against algal growth. However, pool chemicals can injure people when mixed together or when appropriate personal protective equipment is not used when handling them. Please visit the CDC's Pool Chemical Safety webpage for more information.