City leaders are pushing back their plans to open the Iola Municipal Pool, at least a week.
Interim Iola City Administrator Corey Schinstock announced this morning the delay, citing a recent rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases in Allen County.
“With five cases in Allen County, I just don’t feel comfortable opening the pool at this time,” Schinstock said.
The Iola pool was scheduled to open on Monday, about a month later than normal.
For weeks, Allen County had avoided the brunt of the novel coronavirus, with the only confirmed case a single resident who hadn’t been in the county for several months.
But with four confirmations in recent days and as communities relax restrictions on large gatherings, Schinstock said he preferred to err on the side of caution.
“We’re going to shoot for a July 6 opening,” Schinstock said. “We’ll keep an eye on the numbers. If they keep going up, we may push it back again.”
As fate would have it, the announcement came too late to alter an article in today’s print edition, detailing plans for opening the pool.
