Some 275,000 home swimming pools and in excess of half a million hot tubs in the UK, require regular dosing of a sanitiser, such as chlorine or bromine, to keep the water healthy, and there is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread to humans through the water in these pools and hot tubs.
For health and safety reasons, SPATA believe its field-based workforce must have classification as ‘essential’ workers, to continue providing the vital service of chemicals and expertise so that staff can continue to be employed to help domestic customers. The statement read: “It is vital that pools and hot tubs are allowed to be maintained correctly (often this can only be undertaken by professional service engineers, rather than by the owners) so that there are no public health issues with stagnant untreated water.”
As pool companies across the country closed their doors, wholesalers were constantly monitoring the situation. Neil Murray, Managing Director of Certikin said the company was continuing to follow the Government guidance. “There is currently adequate stock for normal business levels, however many European and Far Eastern suppliers are being affected by staff shortages and the impact of borders closing,” said Neil. “It also may be the case, that some of our faster moving items might sell out quicker than we can replenish the stock.
“We are doing everything we can to avoid stock shortages, although in particular, bespoke made to order items are likely to suffer unavoidable delays.” At the time of going to Press, Certikin was processing orders in the usual time frame and our delivery services are working in the normal manner. Neil added: “We continue to review the situation on a regular basis, and should there be any changes, we will update our staff and customers with the information as soon as we have it.”
Having initially scaled down, Golden Coast, with not a little emotion, closed its doors for a period of three weeks. “Clearly the situation is going to get worse before it gets better and I hope that by us all acting sensibly and complying with guidelines, we can help reduce the spread of the virus,” said Jamie Adams, Managing Director, urging staff, customers and the industry: “Stay safe, and stay well.”
