A great wind of freedom and heat began to blow over France.
Two combined effects that already push swimmers into the water.
Since June 9, everyone can enjoy the swimming pools again, and the leisure centers are getting ready to fill up this weekend, helped by a lenient thermostat.
But after a year spent away from the pools due to the epidemic, vigilance is maximum against the risk of drowning.
A little girl rescued in Saint-Brévin in Loire-Atlantique on June 6, two teenage girls rescued in Revel in Haute-Garonne, and several deaths recorded.
The sad count of drownings has already started for the 2021 season in France.
"And in May, we were lucky, the weather was not good," remarked worried Axel Lamotte, deputy secretary general of the national professional union of lifeguards.
Read alsoClosing swimming pools: has the virus created a generation of non-swimmers?
To avoid adding to a toll that has been rising for six years, with an average of 1,000 deaths per year, Axel Lamotte had a solution: to leave the swimming pools open to schools.
“To kill the Covid, you need 0.1 milligram of chlorine per liter.
In the basins, there are ten or fifteen times the dose.
What was dangerous about leaving the swimming pools open?
I find it scandalous that we did without the incredible luck of having only had schoolchildren, we could have done mass internships, ”he loses his temper.
Adults urged to better supervise the little ones
With the pandemic, 800,000 children were unable to follow school swimming lessons properly. If since May 19, they can resume breaststroke, it will be impossible to make up for lost time. “Those who have not learned at all in 2020 do not worry me, they will be afraid of the water. It is those who will have learned in 2019 who will not have practiced enough and who will still go in the water ”, alarms the lifeguard.
Aware of the risk, Julien * will not let go of his 7-year-old daughter. “She was just starting to learn to swim before the 1st confinement in March 2020. With the swimming pools closing at this time, then again in September last year, we had few opportunities to continue this learning ... There, the pools are reopening but summer vacation is already around a month away and my daughter still cannot swim. Add to that the excitement of the children to find a space of freedom this summer, I think we will have to remain very vigilant and accompany the children in the water as much as possible. This is what I will do in any case, ”he emphasizes.
In Vaulx-en-Velin, the Grand Parc Miribel-Jonage, in the suburbs of Lyon, is counting on parents to avoid tragedies. With its 35 ha of lake, the structure has already welcomed 45,000 visitors at the beginning of the month. “Too often teams tell us that they spotted a child alone in the water sometimes an hour after the adults did not realize it either because they were on the phone or doing a barbecue. With deconfinement, we fear a loosening of surveillance, ”suggests Guillaume Maury, park director. For the first time, teams will be dedicated to training on this subject and to the aquatic ease of the little ones. “We are aware that the children did not have access to this program, we are very alert. "
"School learning has not been optimal or complete, however, with the context of restrictions and high temperatures, we already have increased vigilance," says the Ministry of Sports.
“There can be dangerous behaviors,” we admit.
An awareness campaign should soon land on social networks and on radio waves "with personalities".
"It can quickly become a pressure cooker"
If mortality is higher in 0-6 years, adults are not left out. “People have gained weight in particular,” continues Axel Lamotte. “What worries us particularly is the fact that last year, we came out of the first confinement. The people were suspicious. There, we have a lot more visibility, people live with Covid-19, and therefore our fear is that people will go on vacation, release the pressure and do anything, breaking the rules and adopting behaviors that can be dangerous, ”adds Guillaume Turpin, deputy inspector of lifeguards at Les Sauveteurs en Mer.
Jean-Yves Roux, director of the Val de Seine base in Verneuil-sur-Seine (Yvelines), shares these fears. If “everything is ready” on the eve of the reopening, and the number of lifeguards will, as every year, be adapted to the weather and the crowds, a novelty will welcome visitors: security guards. “People are so fed up that they will come in large numbers, and often they are very excited when the weather is nice. It can quickly become a pressure cooker. The goal: to prevent it from exploding.
