While the COVID-19 pandemic era may be fading, there are still lingering effects. For example, a lifeguard shortage that still persists this year.
According to multiple reports, pools across the country are struggling to open amidst the shortage. Citing data from the American Lifeguard Association, Axios said the shortage is hitting a third of the nation’s estimated 309,000 public pools.
Gregg McQueen, New York City Parks’ press officer, told CNN that there isn’t enough staff to cover early morning and late night shifts this year in the parks system. It takes around 1,400 lifeguards to cover the city’s beaches and pools. This year, McQueen expects to have around 900, still short despite efforts to recruit.
“New York City has raised the pay rate for new and second-year seasonal lifeguards to approximately $21.26 per hour for the 2023 season. All lifeguards working through mid-August are eligible to receive a $1,000 bonus,” McQueen said.
In addition to New York, “agencies in Indiana, Phoenix and Austin, Texas, are also offering monetary incentives for lifeguards,” according to CNN, and the Denver Parks department is offering free lifeguard training.
Last summer, CBS News also reported that there was a lifeguard shortage. At that time, the American Lifeguard Association warned that it could impact half of the nation’s public pools.
Bernard J. Fisher II, director of health and safety at the lifeguard association, told Axios that the pandemic “wiped the slate of certified lifeguards completely clean,” and existing lifeguards now also have to get recertified.
During 2021, nonfatal drowning incidents spike by 17% in 2021, the second year of the pandemic, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. A report released by the American Academy of Pediatrics that year found that drowning was the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in U.S. children ages 1-4, and third leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in children and teens 5-19.
“America needs to take lifeguarding seriously,” Wyatt Werneth, a spokesperson for the American Lifeguard Association, told CNN’s Erica Hill and Rahel Solomon on Monday. “We need to train individuals, get them excited at an early age and offer them a career path forward.”
While many communities are still having trouble getting pools staffed, those efforts in Austin, Texas, to recruit seem to be working, according to Axios. As of this week, it had more lifeguards than in pre-pandemic days.
Starting pay for Austin lifeguards is now $20 per hour, up from $16 last year. By Wednesday, the city had received 1,500 lifeguard applications and there were 570 lifeguards ready to work, as well as 140 scheduled to be trained. Back in 2019, there were just 453 at the start of June and a then record-setting 865 by the end of the summer.
In Denver, Colo., senior citizens have also stepped up to fill the staffing gaps as the state ramps up training opportunities, according to NPR.
Other cities may want to take note, since Fisher fears issues stemming from the shortage could ripple through future swimming seasons.
“This is becoming a snowball effect,” he said, according to Axios. “We’re canceling the swimming classes and we’re going to increase drownings because of it. We’re not going to have individuals strong enough swimmers to become lifeguards down the road.”
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