Stay Safe in the Pool This Summer

County health officials want to stress that it's very important to shower before you go swimming in a pool. John Mason with Deschutes Health Services says persistent bacteria can take a surprisingly long time to die and so the chorine needs all the help it can get without having to fight lotions, deodorants and the like.  “We have done a really good job in public health, explaining that chlorine is the 'savior of the world' and it's really not. I want swimmers to understand that chlorine takes time to kill. For example: E-coli in a swimming pool with 1 part per million chlorine gets killed in about a minute. But if you look at hepatitis; that takes 16 minutes to kill. Giardia takes about 45 minutes to kill."  Mason says some simple procedures can help keep your insides safe when you swim: take a shower, don't swallow the pool water and if you've been sick, don't go swimming until you've been well for two weeks.