Photos by Cheyenne Boone/The Herald
Lexi VanPelt, 8, of Huntingburg, left, and her cousin, Marissa Wolf, 9, of Jasper, play in the water at Huntingburg City Park on Saturday. "I like spending time with my cousins at the splash pad," Lexi said. The city pool has closed for the season due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but the splash pad remains open.

By CANDY NEAL
cneal@dcherald.com

HUNTINGBURG — Huntingburg officials decided last week to close the city pool for the season early to avoid the possibility of someone getting or spreading the coronavirus while at the pool.

“It’s a precautionary measure,” said Larry Altstadt, director of the Huntingburg Parks Department. “We decided to close it before anything was brought to the pool.”

The splash park, which is in an open space outside the confines of the pool, is still open.

“People can still go there and cool off,” Altstadt said.

Officials announced in mid-July that the pool was closed until further notice because a pool employee had tested positive for COVID-19. That employee had been in close contact with a couple other pool employees who decided to self-quarantine, creating a staffing issue.

Tinley Wolf, 4, of Jasper, plays in the water at the splash pad at Huntingburg City Park on Saturday.

He reiterated that none of the employees who quarantined had been at the pool.

Last week, officials announced that the pool would be closed for the rest of the season. That decision was made after the number of positive COVID-19 cases started increasing in the county.

“It started coming to Dubois County quickly,” Altstadt said. “We decided that instead of taking that chance and things possibly going crazy, we would just close it.”

The splash park, which is free to use, will continue to run until Friday, Sept. 11. It is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

“It is open and spacious, and anybody that goes there can be 6 feet apart from each other,” Altstadt said. “The risk is very, very low.”