With a shortage of lifeguards, public beaches in New York open in summer 2022; one month left for the pools

As is tradition, the public beaches of New York open this long weekend of “Memorial Day” the summer season 1996. This year the novelty points to a national shortage of lifeguards, from which not even the most populous city in the country escapes.

The 28 NYC public outdoor pools will kick off summer season a month later on Tuesday 27 of June. As for beaches, the eight that are owned by the city, located in four of the five districts, have 13 miles of coastline. They are: Orchard (The Bronx); Manhattan Beach, Coney Island, Brighton (Brooklyn); Rockaway, the only one in the city open to surfing (Queens); and Midland, South Beach Cedar Grove and Wolfe’s Pond (Staten Island).

In Rockaway Beach, one of the busiest in Queens, several segments will be closed until at least 15 of July, due to the construction of a new boardwalk, in an effort to safeguard that coastal area from future storms .

It is estimated that a third of the swimming pools and beaches in the US they may not open due to a shortage of lifeguards this summer, and “New York City is entering the same uncharted waters for the hot weather season,” he summarized New York Post.

“Like the entire country, it has been a challenge to recruit enough qualified people who can pass the NYC Lifeguard requirements, and the impacts of the pandemic on recruitment continue,” admitted NYC Parks spokeswoman Crystal Howard. And he added “at this time we plan to have all the pools open”.

The national shortage could prevent the opening of approximately one third of the 309,000 community pools across the country, according to the American Lifesaving Association (ALA).

A source familiar with the situation confirmed to the Post that NYC, as in recent years, is seeing fewer and fewer lifeguards taking care of swimmers. The city estimates it will have a clearer count of first responder numbers by the Fourth of July weekend, when training is complete.

Lifeguards will be on duty at all eight NYC beaches every day from 10 am to 6 pm through Sunday 11 of September. The Parks Department reminds that swimming outside these hours is “unsafe and strictly prohibited.” In fact, officers can issue citations to people who enter the sea outside of lifeguard hours.

They also remember that almost every year there are people who die by drowning on the beaches of the city, especially young people and especially in Rockaway Beach and Coney Island, where dangerous rip currents can be unpredictable.

The location and access regulations for the public swimming pools that will open in June in the five boroughs can be reviewed here. In general, they will work every day from am to 7 pm, with a closing to clean from 3 to 4 pm In addition, as always, they will offer free swimming classes.

Now a recreational option that has returned this summer is Governors Island, boarding a ferry in Lower Manhattan or Brooklyn, with access free for people over 65 years old, children under 12, active and retired military, any inhabitant of public housing buildings (NYCHA) and who has the IDNYC card. Neither will anyone be charged on Saturdays and Sundays before noon.

This is an uninhabited island of 86 hectares between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Today it is mostly enabled as a park, after operating for more than two centuries (1776 to 1996) as a prison and US Army and Coast Guard base.

Weather updates can be found here and on the National Weather Service (NWS-NY) website. More details here about the forecast in each county of New York and Jersey.