After weeks with the sport more-or-less shutdown across the globe by the coronavirus pandemic, there’s been a flurry of countries and states starting to reopen pools and workout facilities. To help SwimSwam readers keep up, we’re presenting our index of U.S. states that have begun reopening pools in some form or another.
This is a fast-breaking, constantly changing piece of the swimming landscape at the moment. We’ll try to update this index whenever we learn new information, but we may not always be 100% up-to-date on the happenings in every state. If you know something we don’t, please let us know in the comment section so we can work on confirming and reporting it, plus updating the index.
As pools reopen, every state and/or local governing body will have various rules and guidelines in place to keep swimmers protected from the coronavirus and the associated COVID-19 illness. For the sake of brevity, we’ll try to roughly summarize the restrictions for each state in the index below. In every case, though, there will be much more nuance than we can fit in a brief sentence or two. For more full information, click on the name of the state to follow a link to our full report on that state’s reopening.
States With Pools Re-opening Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
| State | Date | Details |
| Alabama | 5/11 | 50% capacity |
| Alaska | 5/10 | 50% capacity |
| Arizona | 5/15 | 50% capacity |
| Arkansas | 5/22 | 50% capacity as of May 22; High Schools & Clubs can resume training & competition as of June 1 |
| California | 5/20 | Counties could begin reopening pools by June 12 |
| Colorado | 6/4 | 25% capacity or 50 people, whichever is fewer |
| Connecticut | 6/17 | 50% capacity on June 17 |
| Delaware | 5/22 | Community Pools at 20% capacity, no swim lessons or team practices |
| Florida | 5/22 | some localities have allowed pools to begin to reopen under a patchwork of restrictions, while all youth sports have had their restrictions lifted |
| Georgia | 5/14 | 10 or fewer people, or 6 feet of space per person |
| Hawaii | June* | Phase 2 – no earlier than June, county mayors can make decisions |
| Idaho | 5/16 | Indoor gyms can start socially distanced lap swim in Phase 2 (May 16), outdoor pools in Phase 3 (May 30), with occupancy limits |
| Illinois | 6/5 | 10-person max (as of June 5), 50% capacity or 50-person max (as of June 26) |
| Indiana | 5/22 | Adhering to Social Distancing Guidelines, excluding Lake, Cass, and Marion counties |
| Iowa | 5/22 | No specific regulations, “reasonable measures” for enhanced hygiene and distancing |
| Kansas | 6/1* | In phase 2, no earlier than June 1 |
| Kentucky | 6/1 | Pools designated for training or exercise can reopen, 1-per-lane, beginning June 1 |
| Louisiana | 5/15 | Lap Swimming can resume at 25% capacity |
| Maine | June* | Phase 2 – opening date to be determined in June |
| Maryland | 5/29 | 25% capacity (all counties by Montgomery) |
| Massachusetts | 6/8 | 40% capacity, indoor & outdoor pools, youth sports limited to groups of 12 of less |
| Michigan | 6/8 | Outdoor pools can open June 8 at 50% capacity, some southeast Michigan counties will remain closed longer |
| Minnesota | 6/10 | 50% capacity as of June 10 |
| Mississippi | 5/7 | six feet apart, maximum 20 people |
| Missouri | June* | St. Louis County wants to reopen pools by early June, but no set date |
| Montana | 5/15 | 50% capacity for pools at gyms or licensed public accomodation |
| Nebraska | 6/1 | Pools reopening at 50% capacity June 1, except four hard-hit counties |
| Nevada | 5/29 | 50% capacity as of May 29 |
| New Hampshire | 6/1 | Pools can reopen June 1 with scheduled reservations for lap swimming |
| New Jersey | 6/22/2020 (outdoor); 7/2/2020 (indoor) | Outdoor pools at 50% capacity. Indoor pools at 25% capacity/1 swimmer per lane per direction |
| New Mexico | 6/1 | 50% capacity |
| New York | 6/11 | Outdoor pools can reopen, but no specific guidelines yet |
| North Carolina | 5/22 | 50% capacity |
| North Dakota | — | did not issue stay-at-home order, pools can operate under social distancing and hygiene guidelines |
| Ohio | 5/26 | Pools can open if regulated by local health departments |
| Oklahoma | 6/1 | Fully reopened, no limits on capacity or group size as of phase 3 |
| Oregon | 6/5 | Pools can open in Phase 2 with one swimmer per lane. Some counties could move to phase 2 by June 5 |
| Pennsylvania | 6/5 | Outdoor pools can open in “yellow” phase, indoor pools in “green” phase. All counties in at least yellow as of June 11. |
| Rhode Island | 6/1 | Only 15 people at a time |
| South Carolina | 5/18 | Smaller of 20% capacity or 5 people per 1000 square feet |
| South Dakota | — | No stay-at-home order was issued, though some aquatic facilities have closed |
| Tennessee | 5/15 | Gyms and pools allowed to reopen in May, following CDC guidelines |
| Texas | 5/8 | 25% capacity |
| Utah | 5/19 | 50 people or less in some areas, 1 per lane in others |
| Vermont | 5/19 | Outdoor Pools & swimming facilities can reopen May 19, no date yet on indoor pools |
| Virginia | 5/15 | Outdoor lap swimming only, 1-per-lane |
| Washington | 6/10 | Appointment-only lap swim and club swim teams at 25% of facility capacity in “modified phase 1” |
| Washington, D.C. | no date yet | Pools can reopen in stage 3 with limited capacity and safeguards, stage 1 could begin as early as May 29 |
| West Virginia | 5/30 | No restrictions announced yet |
| Wisconsin | 5/13 | Locality-by-locality |
| Wyoming | 5/1 | 1 person per lane |
Ah, people used to have so much hope about things reopening
WA- this may only applies to Seattle area, PNS that has much nore 19 cases. We could open our pools – city/private club pools in phase 1, but not in Eastern WA yet in phase 2.
I would hope that even former Olympic coaches follow strong safety protocols but in Friday I witnessed the opposite. Come on people we don’t want another shutdown.
Hope things go good.
Massachusetts – you have the “regulation” correct but the reality wrong. Most towns have decided not to open their outdoor pools all summer.
California finally permitted pools to open June 12, but counties still must approve reopenings based on local epidemiological data. https://covid19.ca.gov/pdf/guidance-fitness.pdf
http://chng.it/pfYVMjvs
Please consider this petition to open Texas pools. Many of our USA swim dive and water polo sports rent school district buildings. Our clubs can not get into these building to train at all. The districts are only opening pools to students in districts to strength and conditioning. This is not associated at all with usa water sports. It leaves out all the 10 and unders. It leaves out all the kids who train in clubs outside of their school districts. It’s a mess. If we can not get enough support our USA water teams most likely will not have pools all summer. Please help the sport needs help. I could go into… Read more »
Announcements about St. Louis & YMCA pools re-opening: STL pools can re-open June 15. Gateway Region YMCA’s at select locations plan to reopen – Carondelet Park Rec Complex, Downtown St. Louis YMCA at the MX, O’Fallon Park Rec Complex, South City Family YMCA – & pools at these facilities that have them will re-open June 22. It is not clear yet if outdoor pools can or will be included since there was no mention of the same. Only a couple YMCA’s have them anyway, such as Carondelet & O’Fallon Rec Complex. It’s a long-awaited start regardless though.
Also STL Metro area pools in various municipalities open per their own city’s determinations. Some are closed all summer, others will open.