People who swim for exercise may be wondering why they can’t return to their local pools this week, after the state announced that golf, tennis, and even skateboarding at parks could resume under new shelter-in-place orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Like those other activities, swimming is not a contact sport. Doing laps and other exercise in a pool also is a pretty solitary activity, and “the normal amount of chlorine in a pool is going to kill the virus,” said Roberta Lavin, a professor at the University of Mexico’s College of Nursing.

“I think of all the things you could do, swimming is probably safer than most activities,” Lavin says.

But publicly and privately operated swimming pools must remain closed for the time being under state and county shelter-in-place orders. Swimming pools, like gyms, are considered “high-touch areas,” said Will Harper, a spokesperson for the Contra Costa County Department of Public Health. Most pools are housed in gyms or in other facilities where people use locker rooms and congregate poolside, creating potential sources of infection before people even get near the water, Lavin noted.

And while swimming may not be a contact sport, such as basketball, Contra Costa County’s Health Officer Christopher Farnitano said it’s more difficult than people think for swimmers to keep an appropriate physical distance in the pool.

“There’s more and more research showing that coronavirus can be spread even more than 6 feet when people are vigorously exercising like running or swimming,” Farnitano said in a video interview posted by the county. “There’s a concern that even if someone is swimming in their own lane, when the person is right next to them is breathing heavily, they could be exposed. It’s hard to maintain that kind of social distancing in a public pool.”

Swimmers also would have trouble maintaining an appropriate physical distance if more than one stops at the end of a lane to rest or to wait for another swimmer to finish, Lavin acknowledged.

Still, Lavin said most public health concerns about pools probably center on how children, teens and families use them for playing in the water or hanging out poolside. She envisions that pools could operate safely if they close their locker rooms, bar people from congregating poolside and limit the number of swimmers in the pool by, for example, only allowing them to use every other lane. She said most adult recreation swimmers should know how to practice social distancing.

Whether Bay Area public health officials will relax the restrictions on swimming pools anytime sooon depends on what orders come from the state, said Neetu Balram, Alameda County public information manager.