Mt. Pleasant Closes Town Pool After Two Employees Test Positive for Virus
Mount Pleasant officials closed the town pool and community center on Friday and notified the Westchester County Department of Health after two seasonal employees at the Valhalla facility tested positive for COVID-19.
Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi said the town immediately contacted county health officials on Thursday after the tests for the two individuals, who are siblings, came back positive.
He did not recall what days the two employees last worked but the county Department of Health stated in an advisory that at least one of the individuals had not been at the pool since Sunday. A message left by The Examiner for more information was not immediately returned Friday afternoon.
Both workers, who Fulgenzi described as young people, had socially distanced and had been wearing face coverings while they have been at the pool this summer, Fulgenzi said. They have been at home and quarantining since their test results.
“They did everything they were supposed to do so I’m very confident that this is a very limited involvement here,” Fulgenzi said.
The process of contact tracing was put into place shortly after the town notified the county, and the town was awaiting more information from the county.
It is not known when the pool may reopen, the supervisor said. He said the facility has been disinfected and officials were expecting further guidance from health officials.
“They want us to open as soon as possible,” Fulgenzi said. “They feel that because of the weather the way that it is, it’s safer for people to have a place to cool off then it is to be dying in the heat.”
The pool opened on July 6 and has been operating with morning and afternoon sessions and with limited capacity that follows state health guidelines. The early session has been held daily from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. followed by an hour of cleaning and a late session from 3 to 7 p.m.
Fulgenzi said that while attendance has been sparser than usual, residents visiting the pool have been following the protocols, including social distancing and wearing face masks. He estimated that attendance has been about one-third of what it would be in a typical summer during the first two and a half weeks of the swim season.
Fulgenzi urged the public to remain vigilant and to stay home if they have any questions about their health.
“If they have the symptoms they have to stay away from people,” he said. “If you’re sick, you stay home. That’s the way it should be. You have to be responsible.”
Closure of the Mount Pleasant pool wasn’t the only swim facility that was forced to stop operations this week. The Department of Health said the county is also working with staff and municipal officials at Mamaroneck’s Hommocks Pool to identify those who may have been in close proximity to a person who tested positive for COVID-19 and to assure they quarantine and are tested.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/